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FOSTER'S 
AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 



FOSTER'S 

AUCTION BRIDGE 
FOR ALL 



R. F. FOSTER 

Author of "Foster's Complete Hoyle," etc. 

INCLUDING THE OFFICIAL LAWS OF AUCTION 

BRIDGE ADOPTED BY THE WHIST CLUB 

OF NEW YORK, AS IN EFFECT 

SEPTEMBER, I92O 




Corrected to 1920 

NEW YORK 

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 






Copyright, igi6, by 
Frederick A. Stokes Company 

All rights reserved, including that of translation into 
foreign languages 






CONTENTS 



PART I — THE BIDS 



CHAPTER 








page 


I 


Description of the Game . . . i 


II 


First Principles of Bidding 




15 


III 


Original Bids 




17 


IV 


What Are Sure Tricks? . 






20 


V 


Major and Minor Suits . 






23 


VI 


Minor Suits .... 






25 


VII 


The Major Suits . . . 






27 


VIII 


Compensating Tricks . 






29 


IX 


What Are No-trumpers? 






33 


X 


The Equals of Aces . . 






. 36 


XI 


Bidding Equal Suits . 






40 


XII 


Winning or Saving Game 






. 42 


XIII 


Partner's Warning Bids . 






46 


XIV 


Major Suit Take-outs 






51 


XV 


Playing with Poor Partners 




59 


XVI 


Two-trick Bids and Shut-outs 




62 


XVII 


Assisting Bids 




65 


XVIII 


The Partner's Silence . 






68 


XIX 


Postponed Bids . ... 






72 


XX 


Rebidding the Hand . 






75 


XXI 


Shifting the Bid . 






78 


XXII 


Doubling 






85 


XXIII 


Bidding Against No-trumpers 




88 


XXIV 


The Nullo Declaration . 






93 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXV Scoring at Nullos 96 

XXVI The Bidding at Nullos .... 99 
XXVII Playing a Nullo Hand . . . .107 

REVERSE BIDS IO9 

PART II — THE PLAY 



XXVIII 


Playing the Hands . . . . 


. no 


XXIX 


Selection of the Suit 


. 116 


XXX 


The Card to Lead 


. 120 


XXXI 


The Partner's Play . . . . 


. 125 


XXXII 


The Eleven Rule .... 


. 138 


xxxni 


The Theory of the Finesse . 


. 143 


XXXIV 


Second Round of the Suit . 


. 150 


XXXV 


Third Hand, Second Round . 


• 153 


XXXVI 


The Discards . . . . . 


• 155 


XXXVII 


Second Hand Play 


. 158 


XXXVIII 


Return Leads 


. 166 


XXXIX 


Playing the Declaration . 


. 169 


XL 


Playing Trump Declarations 


. 173 


XLI 


Playing No-trump Declaration 


3 . 178 


XLII 


Finessing by the Declarer . 


. . 182 


XLIII 


The Declarer's Reentries . 


. . 189 




The Laws of Auction . . 


. . 192 



INTRODUCTION 

A wide experience and correspondence with card 
players of all sorts has led the author to the con- 
clusion that any text book which addresses itself 
to any particular class, ranking them according to 
experience or skill, must fail of its appeal to others 
of a different class. 

The scientific treatise that is eagerly perused by 
the expert is a disappointment to the members of 
the family that want to learn the leads. The book 
that is labelled for the beginner is tossed aside by 
the average player, who thinks he knows it all, and 
does not even attract a passing glance from the 
expert. 

In the following pages the author has endeavored 
to place the tactics of this fascinating game in such 
a light that they shall prove attractive to all classes 
of players. The beginner can find in it the funda- 
mentals, the conventions, of the game. The average 
player will probably discover many little refinements 
that he has overlooked or forgotten, while the ex- 
pert will be given ample opportunity to study some 
absolutely new theories, which he may have heard 
of, but which have never been presented to his at- 
tention in their proper relation to the rest of the 
game. 



PART I. THE BIDS 



DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME 

There seems to be something in the development 
of the race, in the condition of society, or in the 
state of public morals, which induces a nation to 
take up certain games at various periods of its his- 
tory. Before and after the Civil War, when people 
had not very much confidence in one another and 
life was a game of big risks and bluff, poker was the 
favorite. 

During the era of credit that followed, in which 
individuals started to do big business with small 
capital, and every one tried to get the best of his 
rivals, euchre very properly expressed the popular 
idea of the game of life, in which the best bower 
was held by the man with some advantage in the 
way of freight rates or patent rights. 

After that we come to the period of partnerships, 
in which men began to consolidate their interests, 
to form large companies and reduce operating ex- 
penses, business being conducted upon scientific 
principles, by combining the best elements in con- 



2 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

cerns that had previously been opposed, and so we 
reach the great partnership game of whist. 

We are now in the era of trusts, of combinations 
of such strength that they can absolutely dictate 
terms to their competitors. If these combinations 
are unsound, they are expensive errors ; but if they 
are founded on good judgment they overwhelm 
everything, a condition of affairs that is exactly 
represented in the game of bridge. 

There is probably no game which so fittingly mir- 
rors the present attitude of the American mind in 
the conduct of business affairs as Auction. A man 
looks over the material in his hand and concludes 
that if he can make certain combinations they will 
bring him large returns. He opens his books to his 
partners without reserve, and says : " Here are my 
resources, combine them with yours and let us get 
all there is in it." 

His competitors, seeing what is on foot, imme- 
diately start in to study up some combination strong 
enough to beat the trust, or lie low and skin it. 
One side may make it too expensive for the other 
to continue business, or may deliberately take a loss 
to prevent the other from becoming too strong a 
factor. 

There has never been a time when there was such 
a premium on good judgment in business affairs, 
sound combinations of resources and taking advan- 
tage of the mistakes made by competitors ; and there 
has never been a game in which exactly the same 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 3 

qualities were so fully rewarded as they are in 
auction bridge. 

Auction is a game of cards, played by four per- 
sons, two of whom are in partnership against the 
other two. These partnerships are opposed pre- 
cisely as two business firms would be in competing 
for the trade in a certain territory, or in securing a 
profitable contract. In this respect the game offers 
a wide range for the exercise of personal judgment 
as opposed to dumb luck, and holds ample reward 
for the first attribute of a good player in any game 
— courage. 

In auction, no one but the highest bidder can go 
game, because the highest bidder gets the dummy. 
But in order to get the play, one must be willing 
to risk as much as any other player at the table, or 
more. He must be willing to put up his last dollar 
to succeed, or to husband all his resources to avoid 
disaster. 

The bids are called declarations, and they are 
practically a sort of talking over matters between 
the partners, so as to arrive at the best possible use 
to make of their resources; to play the hand on a 
scheme of their own, or to defeat the plans of their 
opponents. The bidding settled, the next thing is 
to win as many tricks as possible, with or without a 
trump suit, according to the winning declaration. 

Auction is played with two full packs of fifty-two 
cards, preferably of different colors. The pack not 
in plav is called the still pack and is shuffled by the 



4 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

dealer's partner and placed at the left of the next 
dealer. 

The cards rank from the ace, king, queen, down 
to the deuce in play ; but in cutting the ace is always 
the lowest card. If cards of the same denomination 
are cut, the spade is the lowest, then hearts, dia- 
monds, and clubs in that order. 

The game is played by four persons, pairing two 
against two as partners, the partners sitting opposite 
each other. If there are more than four candidates 
for play, those who play the first rubber are decided 
by cutting. 

The pack is spread to draw for partners, and the 
two lowest pair against the two highest, the lowest 
of the four having the choice of seats and cards and 
dealing the first hand. 

The deal passes in rotation to the left, its position 
being marked by the still pack. The dealer presents 
the pack to the player on the right to be cut, and at 
least four cards must be left in each packet. The 
cards are then distributed one at a time in rotation, 
face down, beginning on the dealer's left, so that 
each player shall receive thirteen. 

No card is turned up for the trump. 

All irregularities in the manner of cutting, deal- 
ing, or exposing cards during and after the deal, 
will be found fully dealt with in the laws of the 
game. No matter what happens, the dealer never 
loses his deal. 

The game is 30 points, made by trick scores alone, 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 5 

and the partners who first win two games win the 
rubber, so that the third is sometimes not played. 
No matter how much more than 30 may be made on 
the deal that wins a game ; it is all scored, but it is 
only one game. The partners might be 20 up and 
make 60. That is only one game. The winners of 
the two games add 250 bonus. 

The object is to win tricks that score toward game 
according to the value of the declaration that gets 
the play. Each player in turn, beginning with the 
dealer, bids for the privilege of playing the dummy 
with a named suit for trumps, or at no trumps. 

The highest bid, when passed by three players in 
turn, is called the winning declaration, and the 
partners who made it play the hand, the partner 
who first named that declaration being the Declarer, 
no matter what bids have intervened, while the 
other is the dummy. 

The dealer must undertake to make at least the 
odd trick in any suit he names, or at no trump ; or 
he may pass without a bid. If he passes, the player 
to his left may pass or bid, but as soon as a bid is 
made the player to the left must overcall it, double 
it, or pass. A bid of two is an undertaking to win 
two odd tricks, or eight out of the thirteen. 

The suits outrank one another in the bidding, the 
order being clubs, which are the lowest, then dia- 
monds, hearts, spades, and no trumps, so that a 
bid of one heart is better than a bid of one diamond 
or club ; but a bid of two in anything outranks a bid 



6 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

of one in anything. Four clubs is better than three 
no-trumps, for instance. 

The usual form of conversation is something like 
this, beginning with the dealer : " One club. One 
heart. I pass. No bid." This ends the first 
round, the forms, I pass, or no bid being used about 
equally. On the second round, if the dealer goes 
on : " Two clubs. Pass. Pass. Two hearts." 
On the next round the dealer says : " I double two 
hearts. Pass. Pass. Pass.'* 

This ends it, as three players have passed the last 
declaration, the dealer's double. Now, although the 
highest bid was made by the player on the dealer's 
right, two hearts, it was the player on his left who 
first named hearts, so he is the declarer, and the 
dealer's partner leads for the first trick. Then 
dummy's hand goes down, and the declarer plays 
his own hand and dummy's in combination, without 
any suggestions or help from his partner. 

No player can double his partner's bid, but he 
may redouble if his partner is doubled, or the one 
who is doubled may redouble, when it comes round 
to him. Only one redouble is allowed. Players 
must be careful not to bid out of turn, or their op- 
ponents may demand a new deal. (See Laws of 
the Game.) 

If a player makes a bid that is insufficient to over- 
call the previous bid, such as three hearts over three 
spades, he may correct it at once, before the next 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 7 

player speaks; but if his opponents call attention to 
it, they may either demand that it be made sufficient, 
or they may pass it, double it, or declare something 
else, accepting the insufficient bid as regular. If the 
opponents ask for the bid to be made sufficient and 
then pass, the partner of the player in error is 
barred from bidding, and unless the player on his 
left declares or doubles, the bidding is closed. 

The player to the left of the declarer having led a 
card, the declarer plays from the dummy, then the 
third hand and finally the declarer. The winner of 
the trick leads for the next trick, and so on, until 
the last card falls. The declarer always gathers 
the tricks for his side, and the first six are always 
his " book," which means, '' the tricks that do not 
count." They are usually bunched, and all over the 
book go toward fulfilling the declaration, which is 
called the contract. 

Either of his opponents may gather for their side, 
and their book is the difference between the contract 
and seven. If the contract is three hearts, for in- 
stance, the opponents' book is four tricks, as those 
would not count for them. Every trick they get 
over their book " sets " the contract. 

If the declarer fulfils his contract, he counts all 
tricks over the book at their regular value and 
scores them toward game. Each trick in clubs is 
worth 6, diamonds 7, hearts 8, spades 9, and no- 
trumps 10. If the declaration is doubled, these 



8 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

values are doubled, hearts being worth i6 a trick. 
If redoubled, hearts would be worth 32. Only the 
declarer can score toward game. 

If the declaration fails, the opponents count all 
over their book at 50 each, no matter what the dec- 
laration was, clubs, hearts or no-trumps, all are 
worth 50 when the contract is set. If doubled, 
their tricks are worth 100, and 200 if redoubled. 
These do not score toward game, but go in the 
honor column. 

If either side wins twelve tricks out of the thir- 
teen, it is worth 50 points for little slam. If they 
win all thirteen, it is worth 100 for grand slam, but 
neither of these count toward game. They go in 
the honor column, sometimes called, " above the 
line." 

If there is a trump suit, the five highest cards in 
that suit are honors, and are scored as held, in the 
honor column; never toward game. Three honors 
are called " simple " and worth the same as two 
tricks, so that simple honors in spades would be 
worth 18. Four honors between partners are worth 
four tricks, and five are worth five tricks. If there 
are four or five in one hand, they are worth double, 
so that four honors in spades in one hand would be 
worth eight tricks, or 72. Four in one hand, fifth 
in the partner's are worth nine tricks. In spades 
this would be 81. 

When there is no trump, only the aces are honors. 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 9 

Three are worth 30 points, four aces between part- 
ners, 40, but four in one hand are worth 100. 
When aces are divided, neither side scores them. 
This is called " aces easy." 

The side first winning two games adds 250 points 
for winning the rubber, which is always two games 
out of three, and the scores of each side are then 
added up, the difference between the totals being 
the amount won or lost. It is often found that the 
partners who have won the rubber are still losers 
on points, owing to the adverse scores in the honor 
column. 

Some persons find a slight difficulty in scoring 
when a revoke is claimed and proved in play. The 
penalty against the declarer is invariable, 100 points 
in the honor column, and the forfeiture of all other 
scores made on the deal except honors as actually 
held, they not being affected by revokes. 

When the opponents of the declarer revoke, he 
has the choice of penalties, to take 100 points in 
honors or three actual tricks. If he takes the tricks, 
they are added to his own and their value scored 
just as if he had won them in play, but they do not 
carry any bonus in case the contract was doubled. 

Suppose the bid is three hearts, and the declarer 
makes two only, but gets a revoke penalty. It will 
usually be to his advantage to take the tricks, be- 
cause they not only fulfil his contract but win the 
game, perhaps the rubber. He is then entitled to 



10 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

score five odd at 8 a trick. If he was doubled, at 
i6 a trick. But if he made four odd in play, the 
100 points is better than three tricks at 8 each, 
because he is already game, without the assistance 
of any more tricks. 

The difficulty is to adjust the score when the con- 
tract is doubled and fails, but the declarer gets a 
revoke. If the bid is four spades, doubled, and he 
makes four odd, he gets i8 a trick below the line, 
and 50 in honors for fulfilling a doubled contract, 
together with 100 for the revoke. 

But if he got two odd only, he would have to take 
the tricks as revoke penalty, so as to fulfil his con- 
tract. This would give him five odd at 18 a trick 
and game; but there would be no 50 for a fulfilled 
contract and 50 for a trick over, because the con- 
tract was not fulfilled in actual play. 

When the tricks taken would not put him game, 
it is better to take the points. Suppose the bid is 
one heart, and the contract is set for one trick. A 
revoke penalty would make the declarer 24 up only, 
so it is better to stay at nothing and take the 100. 
The revoking side cannot score anything but honors 
as actually held, even if they have doubled and set 
the contract for four or five tricks. 

If the declarer bids seven and takes six only, he 
is set, but he can still score the little slam, as he won 
twelve tricks. If the opponents win twelve or thir- 
teen tricks, they score the slam in addition to any 
other penalties they are entitled to. 



A-B 


Y-Z 




250 




50 


50 


56 


200 


32 


30 


16 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 11 

The example in the margin will 
show the usual method of scoring a 
rubber, these being the plays recorded : 

A-B made two no-trumps and held 
three aces. 20 below the line and 30 
above. 

Y-Z bid three hearts, doubled, and 
made the odd only, with simple honors. =: = 

Nothing scored below the line, as the 20 40 

contract failed; but Y-Z get 16 for — 

simple honors, and A-B get 200 for . . 42 

defeating a doubled contract by two • — 

tricks. 300 486 

Y-Z then bid hearts, made five odd . . 300 

and held four honors; 40 below and 

32 above. Draw a line under it to 186 

show a game won. 

Y-Z got the contract on the next deal at three no 
trumps, but made two odd only, aces easy. This 
gave their opponents, A-B, 50 penalty, as the con- 
tract failed by one trick. 

On the last hand, Y-Z bid up to four diamonds 
and made a little slam, with four honors in one 
hand. This is 42 below the line, game and rubber, 
56 in honors and 50 for little slam, to which is added 
the 250 for winning the rubber. 

Adding both scores, the difference is 186 points in 
favor of Y-Z. It is usual to throw off the smaller 
figures and to score some agreed minimum. If the 
stakes are for a cent a point or less, the nearer 25 



12 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

is the unit. This rubber would be scored as worth 
1-75. At half-a-cent, the nearer 50 is taken, and 
this rubber would be scored as 200. This is put 
down as 20. 

The scores are usually carried on a " washbook," 
or " flogger/' after this manner, at penny points, 
these are dimes. 

Rubber values: 15 45 55 60 

Jones +15 +60 +60 +120 

Green +15 +15 — 40 —100 

White —15 +30 +30 — 30 

Brown —15 —15 +40 +100 

Black -^5+10 +10 

Smith —45 —100 —100 

The first rubber, 15, was won by Jones and 
Green, against White and Brown. Then Black and 
Smith cut in against Jones and White, losing 45. 
This left Green and Brown's score as it stood, but 
advanced Jones to 60 plus and put White on the 
winning side. 

The third rubber Jones and White sat out, while 
Brown and Black beat Green and Smith. In the 
last rubber, Jones won again, with Brown for a 
partner, while Black and Smith sat out. It will be 
seen that the totals balance at the end of every rub- 
ber scored, so that they can always be checked up. 

These rubbers were played with six at the table, 
two going out and two coming in each time. When 
there are four at a table, many persons like to pivot, 
instead of cutting for partners. In this method, one 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 13 

player sits still and the three others walk round him, 
like the hands of a clock, the one on his right pass- 
ing behind him and taking the place on his left, 
while the two others move one place to the left. In 
three rubbers this brings each to play once with 
each for a partner. 

In social games where there are two tables, it is 
often made a rule that four deals only shall be 
played before changing partners. For a game won, 
125 points are added, but there are no rubbers. 
After the fourth deal, all the players except the pivot 
move according to a schedule which requires that 
each shall take the place of the one who has just 
vacated that place. This is the plan : 

5 4 

8* A 1 2 B 6 

7 3 

No. 8, with the star, is the pivot, and never moves. 
The player sitting at No. i, table A, always takes 
the place of the player who moves from No. 2 at 
table B to No. 3, and so on, 7 going to i. After the 
first move, every player knows who to follow until 
seven rounds have been played, 28 deals. It will 
then be found that every player has had every other 
for a partner once and as an adversary twice. 

In progressive games, it is usual to play four 
deals, adding 125 for every game won, and for the 
higher score to progress. If partners are to stay 
together, all winners go one way. If individuals. 



14 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

one goes one way the other partner going in the 
opposite direction. Sometimes partners go the same 
way, but separate at the next table. This too often 
leads to their coming together again, and is not as 
sociable as the opposite direction plan. 



II 

FIRST PRINCIPLES OF BIDDING 

The changes in the official laws of auction, 
eliminating all double suit values, with all the am- 
biguous bids, takeouts, and doubling that followed 
in their train, has made it possible to formulate a 
natural and uniform system of play, which places 
the fundamentals of the game within easy reach of 
any person of ordinary intelligence. 

This system it is the object of the following chap- 
ters to explain, dividing it into two parts, the bid- 
ding and the play. There is no longer any excuse 
for a person v/ho can remember four simple rules 
to make any bids which are not absolutely sound in 
principle and safe in practice. With these four 
rules known well by heart, all that is necessary for 
the beginner is to follow them unflinchingly in order 
to become not only a most desirable partner, but a 
most dangerous opponent. 

Auction is not whist, nor bridge, and the less one 
knows of those games the better. Auction, as its 
name implies, is a bidding game. In fact the whole 
game is in the bidding, because that is the founda- 
tion upon which everything else rests. 

IS 



i6 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

The whist player turned up the trump, and its 
selection was therefore matter of pure chance. At 
bridge, the dealer's side named the trump and from 
their decision there was no appeal. 

In auction, no one player makes the trump. Each 
player in turn bids for the privilege or offers some 
suggestions to his partner as to the best declaration. 
No one of the four knows who will eventually get 
it, because the winning declaration is so often based 
upon a consideration of all the previous ones. 

The first thing for the beginner to impress upon 
his mind, therefore, is that on the first round of bids 
he never " makes it " hearts, or clubs, or no trumps. 
He simply " declares " one or other of them. His 
bid is not final, and its very nature may induce his 
partner to change it, or may drive the opponents to 
declarations they would not otherwise have made. 



Ill 

ORIGINAL BIDS 

An original bid is one that is made freely, as by 
the dealer, or by the second or third hand when the 
others have passed. It must not be confused with 
what are called forced bids, which are made with a 
view to putting up some sort of defense against an 
opponent's declaration. 

If the dealer passes and the second hand makes a 
bid, that bid should be as strictly conventional as 
if it were made by the dealer. But if the dealer 
starts off with some such bid as two hearts, the 
second hand must bid anything he has that offers 
the slightest hope of defense, without any regard 
to whether it would have been a sound original bid 
or not. 

An original bid is purely conventional and leads 
up to the fight for the final declaration among the 
four players. But when the fight has started and a 
dangerous declaration has been made, the players 
must jump into the scrap without much regard to 
conventions. 

As auction is peculiarly a partnership game and 
the object of all good players is to arrive at a com- 

17 



i8 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

plete understanding between partners, so that the 
best possible line of attack or defense for the com- 
bined hands may be selected. All bids must be 
made with a view to securing the partner's coopera- 
tion. 

In order to accomplish this, there must be no am- 
biguity about original declarations. The moment 
you make a bid that may have two meanings, all con- 
fidence between partners is at an end. If you bid a 
suit when it is good for nothing unless it is the 
trump, and bid it at another time when it would be 
equally good to assist or defeat a no-trumper, you 
involve your partner in a perpetual guess game. 

What is the consequence? At one time he will 
depend on you for certain tricks, only to find that 
you cannot win them, because the suit you named is 
not the final declaration. At another time he will 
refuse to trust you, when you have the very cards 
he wants, and he could have won the game. 

One frequently hears the remark, " I bid hearts 
because I had six trumps and a singleton," or, " I 
had four honors in one hand when they bid no 
trump, and they are worthy sixty-four." But hearts 
ar-e not trumps when the player bids hearts, and may 
never be trumps. There are three other players at 
the table, and they will settle what the final declara- 
tion shall be. They may have entirely different 
views as to the proper suit for the trump on that 
deal. 

If you bid hearts with six to the jack, and a sin- 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 19 

gleton, and the final declaration is a heart, thanks to 
the opponents' having nothing better to declare, your 
hand is probably good for four or five tricks. But 
if a heart is not the final declaration, hearts are not 
trumps, and your hand is nothing but a lot of trash, 
without a possible trick in it. 

There is only one thing that is always good for 
tricks, no matter what the final declaration may be, 
and that is aces and kings. Therefore, not knowing 
what the trump suit will be, or whether there will be 
any trump suit at all, the only indication you can 
give your partner, on your original or " free " bids, 
without any possibility of misleading him, is to name 
the suit in which you can win tricks, whether that 
suit becomes the trump or not. 

The minimum for original bids is two sure tricks. 

This brings us to the first principle of sound bid- 
ding. All original or free bids must be on tricks; 
not on trumps. It will be time enough to bid the 
suits that are good for nothing but trumps on the 
second round, if the situation then seems favorable. 
If it does not, you may be thankful that you did not 
name the suit, and retained your partner's confi- 
dence at the same time. 



IV 
WHAT ARE SURE TRICKS? 

It is an excellent practice for the beginner to take 
from a pack of those little toy cards, made for play- 
ing patience, the following combinations, pasting 
them upon a card which can be laid upon the table 
for constant reference. 

Ace and King. 

Ace Queen and Jack. 

King Queen and Jack. 

If these three combinations are examined it will 
be evident that each of them contains at least two 
sure tricks. The acid test for all suits that are sup- 
posed to be headed by two sure tricks is that they 
shall be good for those tricks no matter who leads 
the suit. 

Any one will admit that both ace and king are 
good for two tricks, regardless of the position of 
the lead, and that the ace, queen, jack must win two 
tricks, even if the queen or jack is lost to the king. 
In the same way, one of the sequence, king, queen, 
jack, may be lost to the ace, but the remaining two 
are good, no matter who leads. 

Now let us look at some combinations that are 

20 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 21 

popularly supposed to be good for two tricks, but 
which will not stand the test of the position of the 
lead. These are: 

Ace and Queen. 
King and Queen. 
King Jack and Ten. 

There are not two sure tricks in any of these. In 
the first one there is only one trick sure, because if 
the player is not fourth hand the king may kill the 
queen. In the second one, unless some one is kind 
enough to lead the ace, one of the two high cards 
must be used to get that card out of the way, and 
only the other is good for a trick. 

There is nothing in the third combination, unless 
the partner can lead the suit three times, because 
both ace and queen may be on the left and it will 
take two high cards to get them out of the way. 
The same is true if the queen lies to the left and the 
ace to the right. If the partner cannot afford to 
lead the suit three times, it is good for nothing as a 
trick winner, and is one of the most deceptive com- 
binations in the game. 

Bids on such combinations as king and jack are 
often excused on the ground that the partner prob- 
ably has the ace or queen. But that is bidding on 
your partner's cards; not on your own, and it is 
guessing at something you know nothing about. It 
would be just as sensible to bid hearts when you 
have none, on the theory that your partner must 
have that suit. 



22 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

Of course, if the opponents are good enough to 
lead out all their high cards, or to walk blindly up 
to guarded kings and major tenaces, almost anything 
may be good for two tricks. Four to a jack might 
be good for two tricks if one of the opponents led 
out ace and king and killed his partner's queen. I 
have seen a suit of five to the eight win three tricks 
at no trump, thanks to the player with ace, king and 
deuce leading his high cards first, but that does not 
furnish any argument for declaring such a suit, eight 
high, as good for sure tricks. 

Strange to say, it is almost impossible to find 
players who will stick to this rule and refuse to make 
a free bid in any suit that is not headed by two sure 
tricks, or with a hand that has not enough outside 
to make up for what the named suit lacks, which we 
shall come to presently. 

Every time a player makes a bid that his cards 
do not justify, one of three things may happen, and 
a fourth always happens. He fails to go game. 
He gets set. Or, his partner had such a hand that 
it did not matter what he bid. The fourth thing, 
that always happens, is that the partner loses confi- 
dence in all future bids made by that player. 

Take a pack of cards, deal yourself out a number 
of hands, and see in how many of them you have a 
suit headed by two sure tricks. This will get your 
eye accustomed to the three principal combinations: 
A K, A Q J, and K Q J, 



MAJOR AND MINOR SUITS 

Good players divide the four suits into two classes. 
Spades and hearts are called major, or winning, 
suits, because the majority of hands are played with 
one or other of them for the trump and they fre- 
quently win the game on the deal. 

Clubs and diamonds are called minor, or losing, 
suits, because theirs is the minor office of support- 
ing better declarations, and it has been found that if 
the hand is played with a minor suit for the trump, 
an opportunity is frequently lost for winning the 
game in a better declaration, whereas the minor suit 
could not quite reach the eleven tricks necessary to 
go game, each trick being worth only 6 or 7. 

Statistics show that about 54 per cent, of the 
major suit declarations go game on the hand. In 
the minor suit declarations, even when bid up to 
four or five, only about 25 per cent, go game. It 
has also be'eri shown that a much larger percentage 
of minor suit declarations fail to make good the 
contract than major suits. 

Any player will take a chance of going game with 
a major suit, as the odds are in his favor; but not 

23 



24 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

with a minor suit, in which it is three to one against 
him. It is upon this that the modern system of 
bidding separates these suits, and lays down the 
following axiom: 

The player who bids a minor suit originally never 
wants it to be the trump. 

He may finally be compelled to play it, or the sub- 
sequent bidding may show that it is the best thing 
for the combined hands, either as an attack or a 
defense, but as an original proposition he never 
wants to work for eleven tricks, while there is any 
chance that his partner can go game with nine or 
ten by making a better declaration. 



VI 

MINOR SUITS 

Minor suits should be declared for two purposes 
only ; to encourage the partner to a better declaration, 
or to indicate where some tricks may be won against 
a game going declaration of the opponents. That 
is why minor suits should never be declared with- 
out two sure tricks at the top, unless the score is 
so advanced that game is in sight. Such exceptional 
cases are matter of judgment, and it is better to 
leave the beginner with the hard and fast rule. 

In the majority of cases any declaration show- 
ing two or more sure tricks in a minor suit will en- 
courage the partner to bid hearts, or spades, or no 
trumps, if the two tricks shown will fill out his 
hand, and he will make many such bids that would 
have been impossible had the tricks in the minor 
suit not been shown, or were they not to be abso- 
lutely depended on. 

Taking into consideration these principles, it is 
obvious that if the person who declares a minor suit 
never wants it to be the final declaration, or trump 
suit, but simply offers the tricks as a help to his 
partner, length in the suit is of no consequence, and 

25 



26 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

one may bid a diamond with ace king alone just as 
freely as with five of the suit to ace queen jack. 

Refusing to bid a minor suit with two sure tricks 
in it because it is not long enough to be useful as a 
trump suit is an evidence of weakness and of ig- 
norance of the true theory of bidding. Many valu- 
able opportunities are lost by players who refuse 
to bid clubs or diamonds because the suit is short. 

Original bids in the minor suits show sure tricks, 
and nothing else. 



VII 

THE MAJOR SUITS 

These are declared on very different principles. 
As they are winning suits, with strong chances in 
favor of their going game on the hand, they are 
always bid with the idea that they may be the final 
declaration or trump, therefore they must be long 
enough to give reasonable expectation of outlast- 
ing the opponent's trumps. 

High cards, two sure tricks, are just as necessary 
in the major suits as in the minor suits, in case 
the suit named does not prove to be the winning 
declaration; but length is essential to outlast or to 
exhaust the remainder of the suit, which would be 
equally valuable to the opponents if it were the 
trump, no matter how small their cards. 

Another point is that as the declarer will probably 
be left to play the hand, with or without his part- 
ner's assisting bids, he must have something more 
than the trumps. 

Five hearts, even with two sure tricks at the 
top of the suit, is not a safe bid with nothing out- 
side. The minimum number on which a spade or 
a heart should be bid is five cards, or four cards 
with three top honors, or four honors of any kind. 

27 



28 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

In either case there should be at least one sure and 
one probable trick outside, or an extra trump. 

That is to say, five hearts to the ace queen jack, 
and an ace queen suit outside, is a good heart bid. 
Six spades to the ace king is a good spade bid, 
even without a trick outside, except a probable 
queen or guarded king. 

Original bids in major suits show a willingness 
to play that suit as the trump, and ask the partner 
to support it, not to change to anything else. If 
the partner does change, he is weak in the suit first 
declared. 

The beginner should fix these two important prin- 
ciples in mind. All minor-suit bids should en- 
courage the partner to take them out with something 
better. All major-suit bids ask the partner to sup- 
port them for the trump. 



VIII 
COMPENSATING TRICKS 

It Is one of the cardinal principles of teaching 
that the beginner should be told only one thing at 
a time and that all rules should be given in the 
first instance without any mention of exceptions. 

There are two classes of rules that apply to the 
bidding at auction. One is general and covers the 
situation in its broadest aspect. This is for the 
beginner. The other is specific and applies to par- 
ticular situations. This is for the experienced 
player. 

But when the beginner has got hold of a general 
principle, and has mastered it so that he cannot for- 
get it, he should be ready to extend its application. 
In his attempts to apply the rule that there must 
be two sure tricks at the head of any suit he de- 
clares as a free bid, for instance, he will soon find 
that there are many hands which do not measure 
up to that standard, but which would be of valuable 
assistance to the partner, if he has a winning dec- 
laration. 

Suppose he finds himself with a hand that shows 
two sure tricks, but each in different suits. Why 

29 



30 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

should he not show this strength to his partner 
just as readily as if the tricks were both in the same 
suit? The answer is that he should. 

If a suit is headed by two honors that do not 
" touch," only one being a sure winner, such as ace 
and queen, or ace, jack, ten, or something of that 
kind, we say that the suit has a hole in it. 

The hole in the ace-queen suit is the missing 
king. In the ace- jack- ten suit it is the king and 
queen. The idea is that if the high cards are not 
in sequence, if the top honors do not touch in such 
a manner as to come under the class of two sure 
tricks, there is an opening for the adversaries. 
They may prevent your winning more than one 
trick in that suit. 

Now we come to a very important principle. If 
there is enough elsewhere to fill up the hole in the 
suit, it is still a legitimate original or free bid, be- 
cause there are two sure tricks in the hand, even 
if they are not both in the suit named. 

Convention requires at least one sure and one 
probable trick outside the suit named to justify 
bidding a suit with only one sure trick in it. If it 
is a major suit, cautious players demand two sure 
tricks outside when there is only one sure in the 
major suit that is declared. 

Suppose you hold ace-jack- ten of diamonds. You 
have not two sure tricks, because the suit has a hole 
in it. But if you have the ace and queen of hearts 
or spades outside, it is a good diamond bid. You 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 31 

cannot bid the heart unless you have five in suit. 
If you had five hearts, it would be a good heart bid, 
because you have one sure and one probable trick 
outside, in diamonds. 

As major suits are often long enough to be de- 
sirable for trumps, but too weak to be declared on 
their sure tricks, they must be supported by tricks 
enough outside to fill all the holes. This is broadly 
expressed by some players in saying that if there are 
no sure tricks at the top of the major suit, the rest 
of the hand should be a no-trumper. 

We have not come to no-trumpers yet, but the be- 
ginner should readily appreciate such a hand as this : 
Five spades to the queen jack; four clubs to the 
queen ten; ace jack small in diamonds ; ace alone in 
hearts. This is a perfectly legitimate spade bid. 

There are two holes in the spade suit, both ace 
and king missing ; but there are two aces to fill them 
up, and two probable tricks besides, in clubs and 
diamonds. 

The partner's inferences from these bids of suits 
with holes in them are often both interesting and 
valuable. Suppose he holds king jack of clubs when 
you bid a club. He knows you have not two sure 
tricks in clubs, therefore you must have at least one 
sure trick elsewhere, and from the bidding against 
you he may be able to tell exactly where that trick 
is. Many games have been saved and won on this 
inference. 

Before leaving the suit declarations, there is one 



32 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

vital point to which the beginner's attention must be 
directed. Nothing you can say afterward will 
eradicate the impression given by your first bid. 

If you start as dealer with a bid of one heart on 
seven or eight of them, queen high, without a trick 
outside, nothing you can bid afterward will head 
off your partner, or correct his impression that you 
can be trusted for two sure tricks, if not in hearts, 
elsewhere. 

If the original free bid is false, no amount of 
truthful bidding afterward will set it right. When 
you have no legitimate bid for the first round, wait 
for the second. 

Now we come to one of the most interesting bids 
in the game. 



IX 

WHAT ARE NO-TRUMPERS? 

If it is good policy to show two sure tricks in a 
minor suit by bidding it, or one sure in that suit 
and one or two outside in a major suit that is too 
short to declare, what are we going to do with hands 
that are stronger than that, hands that are good for 
a sure trick in three different suits ? 

The dealer finds himself with the ace of hearts 
and ace of spades, neither suit long enough to jus- 
tify declaring it, but he also has five clubs to the 
ace jack. To declare the club conveys to the partner 
no idea of the real strength of the hand. 

The proper bid on all such hands is no trump. 
Broadly speaking, this bid means: " I can take care 
of three suits." It is astonishing how few players 
have any definite idea of what constitutes a no- 
trumper. They seem unable to get over the notion 
that any one who bids no trump must have some- 
thing very little short of a hundred aces and four 
kings. 

No-trumpers may be divided into two classes. 
One is a hand that is protected in three suits, and 
is generally spoken of as being above average, hav- 
ing more than its share of winning cards. The 

33 



34 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

other is the '* sporty " no-trumper ; one big solid 
suit of clubs or diamonds and an outside ace; noth- 
ing in two suits. Unless the partner is weak in 
both the other suits, these are big winners, and often 
go game the moment they get the lead. 

Before attempting to master the characteristics 
of a no-trumper, so that he may recognize one at 
a glance, by rule and not by guesswork, the be- 
ginner should clearly understand the object in mak- 
ing such a bid at all as an original declaration. Bids 
based on previous bids are another matter, to be 
spoken of presently. 

When a player names a suit, he shows sure tricks 
in the suit named, but nothing else. If it is a minor 
suit, he offers those tricks to his partner; if it is a 
major suit, he wants to win the tricks himself. 

When he bids no trump, he shows he can win at 
least one trick in each of three different suits, but 
gives no hint as to what those suits are. 

Every no-trumper has a hole in it somewhere. If 
It were safe from attack in all the suits, as with 
four aces, the bid would be two no trumps ; not one. 

The object in bidding a suit is to show the exact 
spot at which help may be relied on, either for attack 
or defense, in case the opponents get the declaration. 

The object in bidding no trump is to show the 
partner that the hand has all round help for any- 
thing he may have to declare that is safer than no 
trumps. This brings us to one of the most impor- 
tant rules in auction. 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 35 

If a good player bids one no trump he does not 
want to play the hand. This will probably be met 
with the immediate retort that every one likes to 
play no-trumpers, therefore the statement that no 
good player wants to play the hand on that declara- 
tion cannot be true. 

Nevertheless it is true in principle, because the 
best players .continually bid no trumps — bid them 
more freely than they ever did — but always in the 
hope that the partner will be found with a safer 
declaration in a major suit. 

" Safety first " is the motto of the modern player. 
He bids no trumps to show support for a suit that 
would not be declared by his partner unless that 
support were promised. If the suit named does not 
fit the no-trumper, he can go back to no trumps, or 
call his best suit. We shall come to that on the 
second round of bids. Many players will not bid no 
trumps unless they are prepared to support either 
of the major suits as a trump. 

Now let us see what constitutes a no-trumper; 
what are the hands upon which a player would bid 
no trumps, not with the idea of playing it, but to 
show his all-round strength to his partner. 



THE EQUALS OF ACES 

An excellent idea for the beginner is to start on 
the theory that three aces is always a no-trumper if 
he has not five cards in spades or hearts. These are 
three sure tricks, each in a different suit. Never wait 
for the fourth suit. If you have three out of four 
you can take a chance on the other. If you wait 
for protection in all four suits, you will miss many 
a game and rubber. No player can afford to con- 
ceal three sure tricks because he has not the fourth 
suit stopped. 

If three aces is a no-trumper, the next thing is 
to see what combinations of cards are just as good 
as an ace. 

If you have no high card but the ace, it is obvious 
that you can stop that suit only once, and win only 
one trick in it. It should be equally obvious that 
if you have not the ace, but hold both king and 
queen of a suit, you can stop that suit and win one 
trick in it just as effectually as if you had the ace. 

The same is true of queen jack ten. All three of 
these combinations are sure stoppers, as they are 
sure to win a trick if the suit is persisted in, there- 

36 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 37 

fore any of them is as good as an ace. The king 
jack ten might be included, and also such holdings as 
queen jack nine eight. Many others will reveal 
themselves to the student who observes hands 
closely. 

But at least one of the three suits should actually 
contain an ace, as otherwise the opponents may score 
honors against the declaration if it is left in. A no- 
trumper without an ace is a gamble, and seldom 
comes up to expectations, no matter who plays the 
hand. 

Now let us look at two hands, one of which is 
the acknowledged no-trumper, containing three aces, 
and the other is simply its equivalent. 

A B 

H. A 3 2 H. K Q 3 

C 4 2 C. 4 2 

D. A 10 6 2 D. A 10 6 2 

S. A 5 4 3 S. Q JIO 3 

Hand " A " is the standard, three aces. Hand 
" B " is its equal in the matter of stopping suits and 
winning tricks. In fact, most players would prefer 
hand "B," because of the possibility of winning 
more than one trick in hearts or spades, while hand 
" A " holds out no hope of anything but aces. 

In order to become thoroughly familiar with these 
no-trump hands, the beginner should deal out a 
number of hands for himself and consider all those 
in which he has three suits surely stopped, regard- 
less of the position of the lead. 



38 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

The next thing is to pick out the honors and lay 
them out in a row. If we do this with hand " B *' 
we find the honors are: 

A K Q Q J 10, of different suits. 

As there are four of each honor in the pack, one 
of each is the average share of each of the four play- 
ers at the table. Hand " B " has a queen more than 
its share, and is said to be a queen above average. 

Now compare two hands like the following: 

c D 

H. A 6 4 2 H. K Q 4 2 

C. KJ83 C. KJ83 

D. A 10 4 D. A 10 4 

S. 5 2 S. 5 2 , 

All that has been done is to turn the ace of hearts 
in hand " C " into the king and queen in hand 
" D." The object is to get different honors, so that 
they may be laid out thus : 

A K K Q J lo, of different suits. 

This analysis, getting at the equivalents of the 
aces, shows that both hands are a king above aver- 
age, and therefore either of them is a better no- 
trumper than either " A " or '' B." It is true that 
the club tricks are not sure, as ace and queen on the 
left would kill both king and jack, but it is a fair 
risk that this combination will " stop " the suit. 

It is seldom right for any player, and never for 
the beginner, to bid no trumps on a hand that con- 
tains five cards in a major suit. The following are 
examples of bad no-trumpers: 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 39 





E 




F 


H. 


A K 10 6 5 


H. 


A 


C. 


7 4 


C. 


Q10 4 2 


D. 


A J 10 


D. 


A J 6 


S. 


AQ 3 


S. 


Q J7S3 



Against hand '* E " the opponents made the queen 
of hearts, king of diamonds and five clubs. It is 
a game hand in hearts. Against hand " F," they 
made four hearts, three clubs and a diamond. It 
was a game hand at spades. 



XI 
BIDDING EQUAL SUITS 

It frequently happens that a player finds himself 
with two suits which are almost equal when looked 
at as possible declarations, whether on the first 
round of bids or in overcalling previous bids. 

The old idea was to bid the suit of lower value 
first, so that if the player was doubled he could pull 
himself out without increasing the contract. This 
was before the distinction between major and minor 
suits was so marked as it is now, and doubling one- 
trick bids has long been out of fashion except in 
special cases, which none but the expert can handle. 

The modern theory of bidding equal suits is that 
the partner may have to deny the one first declared, 
if he has nothing in it, whether there is an interven- 
ing bid or not. What the modern bidder wants in 
such cases is not a place to jump to for safety, but 
one where his partner can help him to stand up and 
fight. 

The theory of modern bidding is to select the 
higher value suit first, when the two are about equal. 
No one calls a club if he has a sound heart declara- 
tion. Suppose the choice lies between the two minor 

40 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 41 

suits, clubs and diamonds. The diamond should be 
declared first. If that is overcalled by an opponent, 
the next bid is two clubs. 

Now, if the partner likes the clubs better, he lets 
the bid alone. If he likes diamonds better, he can 
go back to them by bidding two, which does not in- 
crease the contract. But if the clubs had been bid 
first, then the diamonds, and the partner preferred 
the clubs, he would have to increase the contract 
to three tricks. 

Precisely the same principle applies to hearts and 
spades, no matter under what circumstances the 
bid is made. The partner must be given a chance 
to say which he likes the better without having to 
increase the contract to show his preference. 

When this system of bidding is thoroughly un- 
derstood and faithfully followed it carries with it 
the possibilities of very accurate estimates of the 
value of the hand by the partner. A player who 
starts with a minor suit cannot have a game going 
declaration in his hand, and if he afterwards bids 
the other minor suit, he cannot have anything re- 
sembling a trick in hearts or spades, or he would bid 
no trump in the first place. 



XII 
WINNING OR SAVING GAME 

Before taking up bids that overcall or take out 
previous bids, attention must be directed to the ob- 
ject of such bids in general. All bids are aimed 
at securing the declaration, but remember this: 

No one wants the declaration unless it will win 
the game. 

This proposition will stump nine-tenths of the 
players to whom it is explained for the first time. 
There are only two possible reasons for wanting to 
play a hand that cannot possibly go game; to pre- 
vent the other side from going game, or to get the 
benefit of a big honor score, such as four in one 
hand. 

If the opponents cannot go game on their declara- 
tion, and you cannot go game on yours, let them 
play it. That is the law and the gospel of modern 
bidding. 

The old style was to look over the cards and see 
if they were good for the contract or not. If they 
were, with average assistance from the partner, the 
bid was made. The modern player makes a bid on 
cards that are not good for the contract only when 

42 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 43 

he does not want to play the hand on that contract. 
This is what leads him to declare clubs or dia- 
monds with only two tricks in the suit in his hand. 
He never wants either of those suits for the trump. 

When the opponents have made a declaration 
that is in the game-going class, hearts, spades, or 
no trumps, the modem idea is to count up the tricks 
that can probably be made against that declaration. 
If it seems likely that they will go game, you must 
bid your hand to its full value, or even beyond it, 
whether you can go game or not, as long as you 
think you can make your contract. If they cannot 
go game, but you may, you must bid. 

Probably the hardest thing for the beginner to 
learn is to let the other side play the hand when 
neither can go game. This is especially true of no 
trumpers declared against you when you have the 
lead. If you slip up on the play you may drop 
ten points more. If they slip up, they drop 50. 
You are playing with odds of about 6 to i in your 
favor all the time. What more do you want? 

The moment you make a bid when you should not 
do so you offer the opponents the privilege of select- 
ing the more advantageous of two positions which 
you have just abandoned. The instant the masked 
battery is exposed, they can either get out of range 
or demolish it. 

If the game is obviously impossible for them and 
doubtful for you, let them play for the impossible, 
or they may leave that task to you. But if the game 



44 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

is in danger, you must try for the improbable, or 
even the impossible, in order to save it. If they 
can bid high enough to get the declaration and win 
the game in spite of your efforts, you have lost 
nothing by putting up a good fight. 

One of the most striking characteristics of the 
modern player of the best class is his contempt for 
anything short of game. The beginner attaches 
too much importance to scoring a few points toward 
game, and will play to make i8 or 24 when he 
could have set his opponents for 50 or 100. 

Many statistics have been compiled to prove the 
worthlessness of what is called a previous score. 
Milton Work says the result of an examination of 
500 rubbers went to show that only once in twenty- 
five times was a previous score of any help in win- 
ning the game. 

Dr. MacKay, of Philadelphia, and his assistants 
picked up three different lots of score slips, re- 
cording actual games played at the club at various 
times, and audited them. In the first set, 306 of 
348 games played were won in a single deal. In 
the second lot, 346 out of 395. In the third, 367 
out of 414. 

Take this situation. The dealer, on your right, 
bids one spade. You hold four spades to the king 
ten nine; ace small in diamonds; two small clubs 
and the ace jack to five hearts. This hand is a 
perfectly sound original heart bid, but not against 
the spade. It is almost certain to win four tricks 



AtrCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 45 

against the spade contract. Can you win ten tricks 
with hearts for trumps? Count up the losers and 
you will see it is almost hopeless. Then let the 
spade contract alone. Play to save the game. Do 
not waste your time playing to win 16 points, at 
the risk of losing 50 to 200. 

On the other hand, you have only three small 
spades and three small clubs. Then you must bid 
the hearts, because the opponents may go game in 
spades and you must make the best defense you can, 
asking for your partner's help. It is quite possible, 
althought improbable, that you can win the game in 
hearts ; but the chief point is the danger of losing it 
at spades, which danger did not exist in the hand 
first given. 

Another situation, the player on your right bids 
no trump. You hold six hearts to four honors and 
the ace of diamonds. Sit still and make your seven 
tricks, setting the no-trumper for 50 at least, with- 
out a trick from your partner. The player who 
actually held this hand bid two hearts, because, as 
he explained, he had four honors, worth 64. The 
dealer at once bid five clubs and made it. Where 
were the four honors, worth 64? 



XIII 
PARTNER'S WARNING BIDS 

One of the most important elements in the bid- 
ding is to warn the partner that he is in wrong ; that 
the suit he names may be all right, judged from his 
own hand and general principles, but that he will 
find little or none of it in his prospective dummy. 
The average declaration is on five in suit. If the 
partner has only one or two, there are six or seven 
out against the declarer, five of which may be in one 
hand. 

If the dealer starts with a heart, second hand 
passing, and third hand bids anything at all, it 
means one of two things : he has nothing in hearts, 
or, the suit he bids is much stronger than any aver- 
age heart declaration. These bids are called take- 
outs, and are always a warning against persisting 
with the suit that is overcalled. 

If the original bid is one trick only, the partner 
has no reason to assume that it is anything more 
than an average declaration, conventionally made. 
If he has a declaration that is much better than 
average he should not hesitate to make it. 

Suppose the dealer bids a spade, second hand 
46 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 47 

passes and third hand finds himself with six hearts 
to four honors. He should bid two hearts, even if 
he has three or four spades in his hand, because 
his hearts are far above the average spade declara- 
tion. This may meet with an objection about which 
we shall have a good deal more to say presently. 
How is the original declarer to know whether his 
partner is taking him out with two hearts to deny 
the spade suit, or to show that he has a very power- 
ful heart suit? 

The answer is always the same, through every 
phase of these take-out bids. What does it mat- 
ter which it is? If it is a warning that he has no 
spades, the original bidder should be glad to accept 
it. If it is from greater strength in hearts, he should 
be glad to let his partner play the hand. There 
are cases, of course, in which the original bidder 
has undercalled his own suit, and bid one only when 
he should have bid two. If that is the case, and he 
has none of the take-out suit, he can rebid his own 
suit. 

The correct bidding when he has nothing in the 
take-out suit, and does not know whether it is a 
warning or not, we shall come to when we get to 
the chapter on '' Shifting the Bid." 

Suppose the original bid is a heart, and third 
hand goes to no trumps, he has all the other suits 
stopped and is trusting you for the conventional 
winners in the suit you bid, but is too short to let 
you play that suit for a trump. Here again, if you 



48 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

are strong enough to play the hand with hearts for 
trumps, even if he has none, you can go back to 
the suit. 

If the original bid is a minor suit, say one club, 
and your partner bids a major suit, or no trumps, 
he is not denying your suit, but accepting it as 
helpful to his own hand. But if he bids the other 
minor suit, diamonds, he is warning you that he has 
nothing in clubs, and is indicating a lead in case the 
fourth hand gets the winning declaration. Such a 
take-out should be made only with length in the 
suit and no possibility of any other declaration. It 
will often give the original club bidder a chance to 
try a no-trumper. 

When the original bid is a major suit and the 
third hand overcalls it with a minor suit, it is almost 
invariably a warning, because with any support for 
the major suit and a few sure tricks in clubs or 
diamonds, the partner should be only too glad to 
have you play the hand. If he is so strong in clubs 
or diamonds that he has a chance to go game, he 
should " shout," bidding three, instead of two, so 
that you may know it is not a warning, but a desire 
to play the hand. 

A very important rule for the third hand is al- 
ways to warn his partner against persisting with a 
no-trumper, when the dummy will have to lay down 
an absolutely trickless hand. Third hand warns 
his partner against a suit bid which he cannot as- 
sist, because it is the suit that is to be depended on 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 49 

to win tricks by ruffing. On the same principle, 
as it is the high cards that are depended on to win 
the tricks at no trump, the third hand should warn 
his partner that he has none of them. 

With a trickless hand, the partner bidding no 
trump and second hand passing, third hand should 
name any five-card suit, simply as a warning. If 
the no-trumper is strong enough to disregard the 
warning, well and good, as the hand must have 
been a two-trick bid at the start, and no harm is 
done. If not, it should let the take-out bid alone 
if there are three or more cards of that suit in the 
hand. Five trumps, however small, may make two 
or three tricks by ruffing, but a Yarborough is ab- 
solutely worthless as part of a no-trumper. With 
no five-card suit, you must abandon the no-trumper 
to its fate. 

If the third hand happens to have two suits of 
five cards each, the one of higher value should al- 
ways be the bid. With five diamonds and five 
spades, in a trickless hand, bid the spades. 

The third hand should never take his partner 
out of a no-trumper with a minor suit of only five 
cards, except from weakness, or with four honors 
and strong probability of game. Without a trick 
in the hand, and no five-card major suit, bid on 
five diamonds or clubs, simply as a warning. 

But to declare a short minor suit in which there 
are two or three tricks, is folly, as that is probably 
the very suit your partner wants to fill out his no- 



50 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

trumper. Suppose you hold four or five clubs to 
the ace king jack. To declare such a suit may 
frighten him into dropping the no-trumper and 
leaving you to make eleven tricks to win the game, 
when he could have won it with nine. 

Takeouts in minor suits should be reserved for 
trickless hands, or hands that will go game. 

It takes four odd to win with a major suit. If 
five odd is probable with a minor suit, bid it. 

There are many cases in which a minor suit will 
have just as good a chance for game as a major 
suit would have, the test being usually two extra 
tricks. Seven clubs to the ace and king, for in- 
stance, would indicate that the no-trumper had 
been declared on protection in the other suits and 
a game in clubs is quite likely. Experience and 
observation will soon show when such bids are ad- 
visable. 

In view of the fact that so many players regard 
an original no trump bid as an invitation to the 
partner to declare a major suit, the beginner should 
be reminded that it is poor policy to bid no trumps 
on hands which are so short in the major suits that 
such a takeout would have to be denied. The lone 
ace of hearts, five clubs to ace and king, five dia- 
monds to king and queen and two little spades, is 
a poor no-trumper. Bid the diamond and see who 
has the major suits. 



XIV 

MAJOR SUIT TAKE-OUTS 

The reasons for the no-trump declaration have 
already been stated. It is the only way in which 
a player can indicate that he has three or four sure 
tricks in his hand, but that they are either scattered, 
or in the major suits, which are too short to be de- 
clared as the trump. A dealer who finds himself with 
the ace king and one small heart, three spades to 
the ace queen, and five clubs to the king jack has 
no other bid. 

To declare the clubs without a sure trick in the 
suit would destroy his partner's confidence and give 
him no adequate idea of the real strength of his 
hand. To declare either of the other suits would 
be to run the risk of finding most of the trumps in 
the hands of the adversaries. There is no choice 
but to bid no trump. 

But no-trumpers are called on very light hands 
nowadays, usually on nothing but three suits safely 
stopped. They are seldom good for more than four 
or five tricks. If they were, they should bid two 
no trumps at the start, especially if it is desirable to 
shut out an adverse suit bid. 

SI 



52 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

There is always a hole in a no-trumper that can- 
not bid more than one trick, and if the adversaries 
happen to hit it they may shoot the contract full 
of holes. It is therefore most important for the 
third hand to warn the declarer that he is in danger 
of being set, or to take him out with a contract 
less fraught with pitfalls. 

We have already discussed the warning with 
trickless hands. We come now to the other part 
of it, the shift to a safer contract. 

One invariable rule for the third hand is never 
to leave the partner in with a bid of one no-trump, 
second hand passing, when you have five or more 
hearts or spades. 

It does not matter what these five cards are, 
whether only nine high or with four honors, and the 
rest of the hand has nothing to do with it. There 
are absolutely no exceptions to this rule, and the 
same principle should be applied to six or seven 
clubs or diamonds. 

Even good players frequently object that they 
cannot tell whether these take-outs in the major 
suits are from strength or weakness. The reply is 
that it does not matter which it is. If from 
strength, it ought to go game with a no-trumper for 
the dummy. If from weakness, the no-trumper is 
warned of its danger and advised as to the only suit 
in which the partner can promise a trick or two, and 
then only on condition that he is allowed to play the 
hand. 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 53 

The third hand, when he makes the take-out bid, 
is in precisely the same box as the original declarer. 
He does not know whether the no-trumper is bid on 
strength in any particular suit, or is simply what 
might be called a sketchy one, good for three or four 
tricks at the most. He hopes to find the no-trumper 
with three or four cards of his suit, just as the no- 
trumper hoped to find the third hand with three or 
four probable tricks in something or other, kings 
and queens. 

Many persons object to the modem system of 
taking the partner out of a no-trumper with five 
hearts or spades, on the ground that the no-trumper 
might have gone game, or could at least have made 
its contract, while the take-out suit can do neither. 
It is the old argument of the greater difficulty of 
getting four odd when three odd would have done. 

If such cases are impartially investigated it will 
invariably be found that the fault lies with the no- 
trumper for letting his partner play the hand with 
a trump suit which the no-trumper is short of. The 
losses on all such hands are due to the error of 
leaving the partner to play a suit in which you can 
give him no assistance, which is just as bad as it 
would be to leave you to play a no-trumper when 
dummy has not a card in his hand above a ten. 

Beginners must expect to meet with many who 
have the reputation of being very good players who 
do not believe in these take-out bids, but the reasons 
for their objections will invariably be found to be 



54 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

based on a misunderstanding of the theory upon 
which they rest. They will probably tell you they 
have seen " hundreds of hands " in which the no- 
trumper would have made more if left alone than 
the take-out makes. Ask them to show you a dozen 
such hands and they cannot produce a single one in 
which they can give you the four complete hands, 
showing all fifty-two cards. 

The hands they refer to are those in which the 
no-trumper was not much more than average, and 
left the partner to play the hand, although the no- 
trumper had only one or two indifferent cards of 
his suit, or they are only fragments of hands, which 
will not stand examination for better bids. 

I have on file 10,000 recorded deals of 52 cards, 
which were made by a large number of correspond- 
ents of the New York Sun some years ago. I have 
lately examined 2,000 of these and picked out all 
the no-trumpers that would be taken out with five 
cards of a major suit, and have found only one in 
which three odd was the limit at hearts or at no 
trumps. 

I find that the probable gain in points by the take- 
out is worth an average of no points a deal, count- 
ing the saving of all " set " contracts at 50 a trick, 
and scoring the tricks won on the contract at their 
normal value. 

A common objection is that if the third hand 
holds high cards, which should be valuable as an 
assistance to a no-trumper, it is better to play for 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL S5 

three odd than four. The answer to this is that 
the stronger the hand, with a no-trumper for the 
dummy, the safer the contract with a trump suit. 

Another objection is that side cards may be such 
that it is obvious the no-trumper holds the high 
cards in the suit which the rule requires to be named 
as a take-out. The answer to this is that the more 
high trumps there are in the dummy, with five in 
the declarer's hand, the stronger the declaration. 

The most conclusive answer to all these objec- 
tions is that no one but the original declarer knows 
what he bid no trumps on, and that if he does not 
like the take-out he can go back to no-trumper (if 
he really has a no-trumper), without increasing the 
contract. 

This increase of the contract is the bugaboo of the 
loose thinker. Let us suppose the no-trump hand 
is good for five tricks, but has only two small 
spades. Dummy has not a trick in his hand, but 
has five spades to the jack. If this hand is played 
at no trump, it goes down for two tricks. If it is 
played at two spades, two of the spades in dummy 
win tricks, added to the five in other suits, it goes 
down for one only. This is a saving of 50 points. 

Any hand that has five trumps should be good for 
two tricks, even if there is not a face card any- 
where. At no trumps it is good for nothing at all 
unless the partner has the high cards of the five- 
card suit. 

Any person of average intelligence should be able 



56 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

to see that a hand which is good for nothing as part 
of a no-trumper but which can be converted into a 
hand that is good for two or three tricks with a 
trump, cannot lose anything by increasing the con- 
tract one trick, when it adds two or three to the 
combined trick-taking powers of the two hands by 
so doing. 

A very large number of hands have been pub- 
lished, showing the value of these take-out bids in 
important duplicate matches. Take this situation. 
The dealer bids no trumps on the ace king queen 
deuce of spades; the king queen jack ten of dia- 
monds; the queen ten six of clubs and the king 
nine of hearts. His partner refuses to take him out 
with five spades to the jack, and the only trick the 
no-trumper makes is the king of diamonds, losing a 
little slam. This is from actual play. It was a 
game hand in spades, dummy having five diamonds 
and three hearts, no clubs. This shows a loss of 
330 points at no trumps, against a gain of 206 in 
spades, counting the game at 125. This is 536 in 
favor of the take-out. 

An error which players should be careful to avoid 
is persisting with the no-trumper on the chance that 
dummy can win some tricks in the suit he bids as a 
take-out. Another common mistake is going back 
to no trumps because there are high cards in the suit 
the partner bids. 

This is usually done on the theory that they have 
the whole suit between them and can take every 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 57 

trick in it, and that these tricks might as well be 
worth ten points apiece as eight or nine, and that 
the game can be won with one trick less at no 
trumps. 

While this is true it overlooks a very important 
point. Even if there are five tricks to be made in 
that suit, trump or no trump, at no trump the cards 
in the two hands cannot be separated. Five tricks 
is the limit if there are only five in one hand. The 
remaining four tricks in other suits must be sure to 
get the game. 

But eight or nine cards of a suit between two 
hands, even with only five in one hand, may account 
for six or seven tricks if they are trumps. One 
constantly sees dummy ruffing off one or two little 
trumps, while the five in the declarer's hand remain 
intact. At no trumps, this separation of the trick 
winning powers of a suit is impossible. Another 
point, which the beginner should never forget : 

Anything may happen to a no-trumper. 

Here are a couple of examples : The dealer held 
ace king small in hearts; ace queen of clubs; king 
queen of spades, and ace of diamonds. He bid no 
trump, and when his partner took him out with two 
hearts, he went back to no trumps. Dummy laid 
down five hearts to three honors, four to the jack in 
each black suit and no diamonds. The dealer was 
quite right in supposing that he would make five 
tricks in the heart suit at ten apiece instead of eight ; 
but the adversaries made four diamonds, which 



58 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

dummy's hearts would have stopped had they been 
trumps, king of clubs and ace of spades, setting the 
contract. ^ 

One more. Third hand took the dealer out of a 
no-trumper with six diamonds to the nine. The 
dealer went back to no trumps, because he had four 
honors in diamonds, ace king jack ten, the ace 
king queen of clubs, queen and other hearts, king 
and one spade. He made the three clubs and two 
diamonds, but was set 150. The hand is worth five 
odd in diamonds, although there are three to the 
queen in one hand. 



XV 
PLAYING WITH POOR PARTNERS 

In society one is called upon to play with all sorts 
of partners and to make up rubbers that one would 
never think of cutting into at the club. Of course 
it is largely a guess game, with little or none of the 
pleasure to be derived from inference, and things 
have a way of turning up that are undreamed of, 
some of the plays being beyond the imagination to 
account for. 

Among the endless excuses made by the partner 
one of the most common is that the players he or 
she has been accustomed to " do not play that way," 
or that they " do not know anything about the fine 
points," and consequently no trouble has ever been 
taken to pay any attention to the cards as they fall 
or to attach any special meaning to the bids. 

But this is assuming that if your partner knows 
nothing of the sound principles of play the less you 
know about them the better, and that if both of you 
pay no attention to the bids or the leads you will be 
better off than if one of you knew something. To 
say the least, this is 'curious logic. 

It is quite true that the inferences from the bids 
59 



6o AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

and the distinction between major and minor suits 
are quite lost upon the poor player, but that does 
not make your bidding unsound. If you never bid 
a suit originally without the tops, for instance, it 
does not matter whether your partner attaches suf- 
ficient importance to that fact or not; neither does 
it matter whether your partner makes the proper 
answer to your bids or not, because he or she would 
not make the proper answer to anything. 

If it is the good player that has to answer the bids 
made by a partner that does not know or care any- 
thing about the conventionalities, the technical 
knowledge possessed by the good player and his abil- 
ity to draw correct inferences from sound bidding is 
of course worthless for the time being. But that is 
only half of it. He is no worse off than any others 
at the table in this respect, who know no more about 
the bidding than he does. 

It will be found a useful rule when cutting in with 
those who play " only for amusement," as they ex- 
press it, to draw no inferences from any declara- 
tions except that the bidder would like the named 
suit for the trump, and that if the bid is no trumps 
it is probably protected in all four suits and about 
twice as strong as you would bid no trumps on your- 
self. 

In answer to the suit declarations of a poor part- 
ner it is unwise to bid upon anything but sure tricks 
in your own hand. This conservatism will lead to 
the loss of many opportunities, of course, through 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 61 

your failure to take your partner's bids at their face 
value; but these losses will be compensated for 
many times over by the penalties you save through 
not supporting weak bids and also by the penalties 
you score against your opponents when you let them 
play the hand on their ridiculous declarations. 

It is impossible to lose anything in the long run 
by sound bidding or good play. The thing that 
loses when the good player has a poor partner is the 
good player's failure to make allowance for the fact 
that the partner's bids are not to be depended on, 
and this failure on his part must be classed as bad 
play because he is basing his declaration on facts 
that do not exist, except in his imagination. 



XVI 
TWO-TRICK BIDS AND SHUT-OUTS 

There are two reasons for bidding two or three 
tricks right at the start. The first is to show un- 
usual strength, and the other is to shut out opposing 
bids. Shut-out bids are for the expert who can 
judge the full value of a hand. The beginner 
should not attempt them except when he has seven 
or eight sure tricks in his own cards. Then he can 
bid three, trusting his partner for a couple of tricks 
somewhere. 

It is useless to make a shut-out bid when you are 
not afraid of either of the major suits. The time 
to try a shut-out in spades is when you have no 
hearts. 

Two-trick bids show unusual strength. Some 
players take them as a command to let the declara- 
tion alone if they cannot support it, but this applies 
only to the major suits. 

Two tricks at no trumps usually shows four aces, 
or a hand that is good for six or seven tricks, no 
matter what is led against it This should be let 
alone, unless the third hand has unusual length in a 
major suit and can ruff one or two suits early. 

62 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 63 

Even 100 aces may not compensate for the loss of a 
chance to go game with a suit for the trump. 

If you hold a hand on which you are willing to bid 
up to two or three, even without your partner's 
assistance, and have a reasonable certainty of mak- 
ing one or two odd on your own cards, bid the full 
strength of your hand at once if you have any fear 
of the opponents starting and building up a bid 
against you in another suit, on which they might go 
game. 

In the minor suits, a two-trick bid should mean 
only one thing, a solid suit, good for five or six 
tricks, or a suit that one lead will establish, accom- 
panied by a sure re-entry, the ace of another suit. 
Six clubs to the king, queen, jack, ten, and an out- 
side ace is a two club bid at the start. Six dia- 
monds to the four top honors, without a trick any- 
where else, is a two diamond bid. 

These bids practically ask the partner to go no 
trumps, as they deny any high cards in the major 
suits. They are technically known as " shouts." 

If th^ dealer bids a club and the second hand one 
diamond, that shows nothing unusual, but indicates 
the best suit to lead in case the dealer's partner gets 
the winning declaration. If the second hand bids 
" two " diamonds, however, over the one club, that 
is a shout. Any trick more than necessary to de- 
clare the suit is a shout. 

If the dealer bids a heart and the second player a 
spade, that does not indicate the strength on which 



64 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

the dealer would bid a spade, but shows a spade is 
the best defense the second bidder has to offer, weak 
as it may be. If he bids two spades over one heart, 
that is a shout. 

If the first bid is a major suit and the second hand 
bids a minor suit, it is not necessary for him to 
shout, because good players take all such bids as 
asking the partner to go no trumps if he can stop 
the major suit. Suppose the dealer bids a spade 
and second hand holds five diamonds to the ace 
king queen, with the ace queen jack of clubs, and 
four hearts to the king. There is little danger of 
losing the game in spades, but if the fourth hand 
can stop the spades, it is a no-trumper. 



XVII 
ASSISTING BIDS 

The general theory of bidding is to start on the 
assumption that there is no reason why one hand 
should be any stronger than another, therefore your 
partner has just as good a chance to hold something 
as either of your opponents. 

This refers to a partner who has yet to speak. 

When you bid one trick in anything, you under- 
take to win seven out of the thirteen. You have 
not seven tricks in your own hand by any means, 
but you trust your partner to win his share of the 
six you do not bid. That is two. 

Aces and kings are the only sure winners at 
auction. Queens unaccompanied by kings or aces 
do not count. There are eight aces and kings in the 
pack. Your partner should have his share. That 
is two tricks. 

If the dealer starts with a bid of one spade, and 
the second player overcalls him with two hearts, or 
diamonds, or clubs, the third hand should not in- 
crease the spade contract unless he has more than 
two probable tricks. 

The third hand should never assist on trumps 
6b 



66 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

alone, unless he has a singleton, or can ruff the op- 
ponents' declared suit. His partner does not want 
trumps. He has them. What he wants is stoppers 
in the adverse suit and outside tricks. 

If the dealer starts with a minor suit, say one 
club, and is overcalled with a major suit, say one 
heart, it is useless to assist the clubs unless very 
strong in them, or as a pusher, when the game seems 
to be in danger, or when the contract is too easy for 
the opponents. Sit tight, lead the club and try to 
save the game. That is better than risking being 
set on a hopeless contract. 

It sometimes happens that your partner will start 
with the declaration that you would have made your- 
self, or one that fits your hand better than anything 
else, or in which you have much more help than he 
has any right to expect. 

These positions are usually favorable for an im- 
mediate assist, or for a shut-out. 

Suppose your partner bids no trump, and you 
have an ace king queen suit and ace queen of 
another suit. You should make it two no trumps at 
once, or even three, because if you pass and the 
fourth hand asks for a lead, your doubling that 
suit, or even bidding two no trumps, will not have 
the same meaning at all as if you had bid it when it 
was a free bid. 

In the same way, if your partner starts with one 
heart, and you find you have four small hearts, a 
singleton ace, and an ace jack ten suit. You 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 67 

should bid two or three hearts at once. This tells 
your partner that he has hit the combination the first 
time, and urges him to stick to it. 

The general rule for assisting bids is not to help 
an original declaration of one trick only, overcalled 
by second hand, unless you have more than two 
probable tricks. Do not count trumps unless you 
can ruff a suit on the second round, especially the 
opponent's suit. 

If the original bid is two, or your partner rebids 
his hand without waiting for you, or in spite of 
your having passed once without assisting him, then 
you can assist him with only one sure trick in your 
hand, especially a high honor in trumps. He should 
be willing to take a sting if he cannot go game. 



XVIII 
THE PARTNER'S SILENCE 

There are two situations in which the partner 
may have nothing to say, and there are two principal 
reasons for his not saying anything in either of 
them. 

He may have nothing to say as an original declar- 
ation, when his partner has yet to speak. That is 
the first situation. He may have nothing to say 
when it comes to his turn after his partner has made 
a declaration of some kind which has been over- 
called. That is the second situation. 

He may have nothing worth declaring in his hand 
in either situation. That is the first reason for si- 
lence. He may be very well satisfied with the 
declaration made by his opponents. That is the 
second reason. 

It would be hard to say which is the more difficult 
situation to handle, or the one in which the most 
mistakes are made ; the original silence or the silence 
that comes as an answer. The rule adopted by the 
best players seems to be to credit the original silence 
with not more than two scattered tricks, and to 
accept an answering silence as a warning. 

68 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 69 

This leads to a very useful convention that gov- 
erns the situation when the silence is original. The 
third hand should then be at least one sure trick, and 
one probable trick stronger than it would be for an 
original declaration, with a partner who is yet to 
speak. 

Any good player will bid a heart with five to the 
ace king and one sure trick, such as the ace of clubs, 
outside, if his partner has yet to speak. But if the 
dealer starts with no bid and the second hand passes, 
the third hand should have not only the five hearts 
to the ace king, but at least ace king jack of clubs ; 
or a sure trick in spades or diamonds in addition to 
the ace of clubs. 

On the same principle any good playei will bid no 
trumps on his own deal with three suits stopped and 
a queen above average; but if the dealer and the 
second hand pass, the third hand should be good for 
six tricks in his own cards to bid no trump. 

The theory underlying this caution is that if the 
dealer has nothing, an average no-trumper, such as 
would be legitimate for the dealer himself, would be 
set, but it should be strong enough to save the game 
against any adverse declaration. 

Even if the dealer has a couple of scattered tricks 
they are not enough to go game if the third hand 
has only four or five himself, but they are just so 
much additional strength for the defense if the 
fourth hand declares anything. 

In spite of this obvious advantage, countless in- 



70 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

stances may be noted in the course of an evening's 
play in which the third hand will make bids which 
are no stronger than the usual declarations by the 
dealer, and will even venture on no-trumpers after 
the second hand has declared a suit. 

Here is a typical case, which shows the want of 
attaching sufficient importance to the dealer's silence. 
When he passed without a bid, the second player de- 
clared a diamond. The third hand held four hearts 
to the ace queen ten; four clubs to the ace and king; 
four diamonds to the queen jack ten and the lone 
ace of spades, on which he bid no trump. 

This is bad bidding. There is not the slightest 
danger of losing the game in diamonds, but there is 
no hope of winning it at no trump unless the partner, 
who has passed without a bid, can win three or four 
tricks. In the actual game the hand was set, as 
there were six spades against him in one hand, and 
the dealer had nothing in hearts. 

But there are many cases in which the third hand 
must anticipate the fourth hand, when both dealer 
and second hand pass. The dealer must be told 
what to lead, even if he has not a bid that he could 
make on the second round that he would not make 
on the first. With five diamonds to the ace jack 
ten, and an outside trick anywhere, for instance, 
third hand should bid a diamond if the second hand 
passes. 

Such bids are not made with any idea of playing 
the hand nor of showing the partner where tricks 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 71 

can be won to help his declaration, so much as to 
direct his play in case the opponents get the declara- 
tion. They are often useful in reopening the bid- 
ding. 

The point is that when both dealer and second 
hand pass, the third hand should declare something 
definite, some suit, instead of making such an am- 
biguous bid as no trumps. 



XIX 
POSTPONED BIDS 

One of the most common faults with the begin- 
ner at auction is that he is in too great a hurry to 
say something. He seems to be afraid that some 
one will get ahead of him, or of being left at the 
post. 

This undue haste in putting in a bid betrays his 
ignorance or disregard of two important principles. 
The first is that if any player gets in a bid ahead of 
him that reopens the bidding and gives any other 
player who has passed without a bid on the first 
round another chance to say what he wanted to 
say at first. The second principle is that bids which 
are made after hearing from the other players are 
much safer than original bids. 

Another thing that the beginner should be con- 
stantly reminded of is that you can never contradict 
the information given by your first bid. You may 
add to it but you cannot take it back. A player 
who starts the bidding by naming a suit in which he 
has no sure tricks cannot deny those tricks by bid- 
ding the suit again. The more he bids the more 
tricks the suit is supposed to have in it. 

72 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 73 

It is this tendency to haste in the bidding, based 
on the fear that they will never get another chance, 
that leads so many persons to make original declara- 
tions, as dealer or second hand, which are unsound. 

If the distribution of the cards is such that no one 
else at the table can make a bid of any kind, you are 
fortunate not to be left in to play an unsound dec- 
laration. If any other player does make a bid, it 
may be of such a character that you will be glad you 
kept quiet. 

If the dealer begins with a pass and afterward 
bids one or two hearts he did not have a legitimate 
original heart declaration. That is, he did not hold 
two sure tricks in hearts, but he had enough strength 
in hearts to justify him in making a heart bid, per- 
haps in order to keep his opponents from getting 
the contract too cheaply ; perhaps to take his partner 
out of a less promising contract. 

The meaning of these postponed bids is not suf- 
ficiently studied by the general run of players. 
Suppose the dealer passes and his partner bids some- 
thing overcalled by the fourth bidder. If the dealer 
now bids a suit he is simply long in it and is prob- 
ably denying the suit named by the third hand, if it 
was a major suit. 

It frequently happens that both dealer and partner 
pass the first round. Then the dealer bids a suit 
over the opponents. He may be credited for having 
a legitimate bid, if only a defensive one, but his 
partner should remember that he cannot have two 



74 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

sure tricks in the suit, or he would have bid it on 
the first round. All he has is length. If he sup- 
ports a bid after passing, his tricks must be in the 
major suits, which were too short to declare orig- 
inally. This often happens. 



XX 

REBIDDING THE HAND 

It is matter of common remark that the average 
player has neither method nor rule for what are 
called " rebid hands." That is, hands which are bid 
the second time. 

Some players get into the habit of increasing 
their own bids when they have already bid the full 
value of the hand the first time. This is particu- 
larly noticeable when the partner has had an oppor- 
tunity to assist and has refused to do so. 

There are three distinct classes of rebid hands and 
any person with any pretensions to being well up in 
the tactics of the game should be thoroughly fa- 
miliar with them. 

1. A rebid of the same suit shows greater strength 
than was indicated by the original bid. 

2. A rebid that shifts to a minor suit shows more 
sure tricks in that suit than in the suit first named. 

3. A rebid that shifts to a major suit shows fewer 
sure tricks in that suit than in the one first named. 

These should be clearly distinguished from suits 
that are bid on the second round, when no suit has 
been bid on the first. The dealer or second hand 
75 



76 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

may pass, for instance, but on the bid coming up to 
him again may declare two or more tricks in a suit. 
This is not rebidding the hand. It is simply the 
conventional way to show length without the tops. 

Good players usually prefer to bid the full 
strength of a hand right off, especially when it is 
desirable to forestall the opponents, who might start 
a suit if they could bid it cheaply and then gather 
courage enough to carry it up to a point that would 
be dangerous to overcall. 

There are many who do not possess the courage 
to bid a hand for all it is worth at the start. They 
either hope to get the contract at an easy figure, or 
do not appreciate the danger of allowing the op- 
ponents to get started on another suit. 

It is important for the beginner to distinguish be- 
tween rebidding the same suit, and rebidding the 
hand by shifting to another suit. Here is an ex- 
ample of rebidding. 

The dealer declared a heart, second player a 
spade. The third hand could not support the 
hearts, but was not afraid of spades going game, as 
he had four to the jack ten, and a sure trick in clubs, 
so he passed. When the fourth player passed, the 
dealer bid two hearts over the spade, and the sec- 
ond hand at once went two spades. 

This shows us both forms of the rebid hand. 
The dealer has rebid his suit after his partner has 
refused to assist him, The second player rebids 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 77 

his hand without waiting to see whether his partner 
can assist him or not. 

The conventional meaning of such bids is the 
same. The player should hold at least six sure 
tricks, with a probable seventh, in his own hand. It 
is either a confession that the hand was not bid to 
its full strength on the first round, or that he is 
willing to take a " sting " to save the game. 

The beginner should note the difference between 
the two bids in the foregoing example in one par- 
ticular. For all the dealer knows, his partner may 
have the spade bid sewed up, as he had. His si- 
lence might have hinted that possibility. The sec- 
ond player, on the other hand, does not care, appar- 
ently, whether his partner can beat the heart con- 
tract or not. 

When your partner rebids his hand in this man- 
ner, after you have refused to assist him, or before 
you have had a chance to do so, if he is overcalled, 
you should assist him on a single sure trick any- 
where, even a high honor in trumps. If he can 
afford to rebid his hand with those cards against 
him, he can afford to go one trick further with th^i 
declaration. 



XXI 

SHIFTING THE BID 

An important variation of the rebid hand is the 
shift on the second round, abandoning the original 
declaration on account of interference from the 
opponents or want of support from the partner. It 
is a very important part of the game, and but little 
understood, the tendency of most beginners being to 
give up too soon. 

Suppose the dealer starts with one no trump, sec- 
ond and third hands passing, but the fourth hand 
bidding two clubs. If the dealer bids two no 
trumps without waiting for his partner, he must 
have a possible game in hand, in spite of the club 
suit. But if he cannot stop the clubs, or is too weak 
to go game in spite of them, he must either pass, 
and wait for his partner to say something, or he 
must bid his best suit if it is worth it. 

Suppose his no-trumper was three small clubs, 
five diamonds to the ace king jack; ace queen of 
spades and three hearts to the king queen. He 
should rebid his hand, without waiting his partner, 
by declaring two diamonds. This gives his partner 
a photograph of his hand. Length and strength in 

78 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 79 

diamonds, both the major suits stopped, but nothing 
in clubs. 

Another common case: The dealer starts with 
one heart, holding five to the ace king ten; four 
clubs to the ace queen jack; three small diamonds 
and one little spade. His partner takes him out 
with one spade, which denies any support for the 
heart suit. It is a common error in such situations 
for the dealer to deny the spades by going no trump, 
on the theory that his partner has the spades. 

If the dealer's strength were scattered, this would 
be quite right, and the only way to do it; but with 
such hands as this the correct way to deny the 
spades is to bid the supporting suit, clubs. 

The theory of this shift is that the dealer does not 
know whether his partner's take-out is from weak- 
ness or strength, but the partner knows that the 
dealer has the top hearts. If the spades are trick 
winners, the partner will go to no trumps, or he 
will go ahead with the spades if he thinks he has 
enough to outlast his opponents. Otherwise he will 
let the club bid stand, or deny it by bidding dia- 
monds. He must have something. 

When the second hand overcalls the dealer's 
major suit with the other major suit, and the third 
hand can neither assist the first nor stop the second, 
he should declare anything in which he has sure 
tricks, so as to give his partner a line on the situa- 
tion, otherwise his partner may think, from his si- 
lence, that he has the opponent's suit bottled up. 



8o AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

No-trumpers are frequently declared on a long 
solid minor suit and an outside ace. If the bid is 
overcalled by either of the opponents, and their suit 
is not the one in which the dealer holds the ace, he 
should show his long suit at once, without waiting 
for his partner, even if his partner has yet to speak, 
as when the fourth hand bids the suit. This sug- 
gests to the partner that one sure stopper in the 
adverse suit will justify him in going on with the 
no-trumper. 

All take-out bids are practically shifts to another 
suit, but they do necessarily imply that it should 
be the trump. The partner may use the infor- 
mation to increase his own bid, or he may shift 
again. 

Double takeouts are often advisable. A takeout 
should be denied just as readily as an original bid. 
Here are some examples from actual play. 

The dealer and second hand passed. Third hand 
bid a club, having ace and king to four and five 
hearts to the king, nothing else. The club bid 
prompted the dealer to call a spade with five to the 
king ten, ace queen of hearts to three, and only two 
small clubs, worthless diamonds. He was left with 
it and set for three tricks, his dummy having only 
two little spades. The third hand should have de- 
nied the spades and bid the hearts, because the 
dealer's original pass shows he never had a legiti- 
mate spade bid. 

There must be some suit in which the two hands 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 81 

are able to support each other. The thing is to find 
it. 

Another case. The dealer bids no trump, a 
sporty one on six diamonds to the four top honors 
and the ace to three clubs, two small hearts and 
spades. Third hand bid two spades. To deny the 
spades, the dealer went back to the no-trumper. 
Then third hand bid three hearts, as he held five to 
the ace seven in each suit. 

Instead of continuing his denial of the major 
suits, and trusting his partner to protect them, bid- 
ding three no trumps, or four diamonds, the dealer 
quit in disgust at the repetition of the takeouts, and 
the heart contract was set for three tricks, with four 
honors in one hand against it. It was an abso- 
lutely sure game hand at three no trumps. The 
difference was 409 points, the game being dupli- 
cate. 

Always deny a one trick bid in a suit in which 
you have only two cards, unless they are both high 
honors. 

One of the more common opportunities for the 
shift is when the original bid is no trump, and the 
second and third hand both bid suits. The reader 
has already been advised that if the second hand 
passes and the third hand bids a suit that the no- 
trumper is short of, it is safer for him to declare 
his strongest suit than to go back to no trumps, un- 
less he is well protected against attack in all three of 
the other suits. 



82 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

Overcalling a no-trumper with a suit in a hand 
which has Httle or no chance to win the game, but 
should be able to save it, is a very common error, 
so common that every player should be prepared to 
take advantage of it. These second hand bids 
usually result in driving the no-trumper and his 
partner into safer declarations. They either warn 
the no-trumper of his danger or lay themselves open 
to a double and severe penalties. 

When the second hand overcalls a no-trumper 
with a suit, and the third hand has two sure stoppers 
in that suit, with a probable trick or two outside, he 
should double, and leave it to his partner to say 
whether to pursue the no-trumper or play for pen- 
alties. 

When the third hand cannot stop the suit at all, 
or not more than once, such as ace and two small, 
or when his stoppers are doubtful, such as three to 
the king jack, he should bid any suit in which he is 
long or strong; otherwise he should pass. It then 
becomes the duty of the original no-trump bidder 
to support his partner or shift, or else to let the op- 
ponents play it and try to save the game. 

Here is an interesting hand from actual play. 
The dealer bids no trump on six clubs to the ace 
king jack, the ace queen small in diamonds, king 
nine small in spades, with one small heart. The 
second hand bid two spades and third hand three 
hearts, fourth hand passing. 

The dealer now made the mistake of going back 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 83 

to no trumps, expecting the spade lead up to the 
king, but the leader inferred that he had the spades 
stopped, and was weak in hearts, so he led the heart 
and set the contract for one trick. 

The correct bid was four clubs, the shift being 
made with a view to seeing whether the third hand 
was strong or weak in hearts. This bid was made 
at only one table among the nineteen at which the 
hand was played, the game being duplicate. When 
the second hand passed, the third hand denied the 
clubs by shifting to four diamonds, and went game. 
His hand was six hearts to the queen, five diamonds 
to the king, a small club and the queen of spades. 

Here we have an example of three shifts; from 
no trumps to hearts, from hearts to clubs and from 
clubs to diamonds. The king of hearts was led, and 
then a spade. The declarer won the next trick and 
dummy led three rounds of clubs, the declarer dis- 
carding a heart and then trumping. Three rounds 
of trumps, king first, left dummy in to make three 
more clubs and give the declarer three more heart 
discards. 

Here is another case of repeated shifts. Dealer 
bids a diamond, second hand holds five hearts to the 
ace ten; ace king to four spades; ace jack to four 
clubs, no diamonds, and bids a heart. Third hand 
goes no trump, fourth hand passes, dealer two dia- 
monds. Second hand three clubs, still fishing for 
his partner's support. Third hand three diamonds, 
fourth hand still passing. Now second hand bids 



84 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

three spades, gets it and goes game. His partner 
had four diamonds to the queen jack, four spades to 
the jack ten, queen and two small clubs, king and 
one small heart. Two rounds of trumps and then 
dummy ruffed out the hearts. There were four 
hearts and three small trumps on the left. 



XXII 
DOUBLING 

There are three classes of doubles : Sure doubles, 
when the opponents' contract is impossible; free 
doubles, when they will go game on the contract if 
they make it without a double ; and doubles that ask 
the partner to go ahead with his own bid. 

The first two are obvious and need no explana- 
tion, though the beginner should be careful about 
free doubles and refuse to make them unless it is 
highly probable, from the bidding, that the contract 
will fail. Otherwise he is simply making the op- 
ponents a present of some extra points for nothing. 

There is one double which the beginner may use 
all the time with perfect safety, and that is when he 
holds two sure stoppers in the suit that the second 
hand calls over his partner's no-trumper, and has a 
trick or two outside. 

There are players who will persist in bidding suits 
against no-trumpers, when they have the lead, and 
there are others who will persist in assisting their 
partner's no-trump bid when they have that suit 
stopped twice, or even once. 

This is one of the very worst bids in the game. 
85 



86 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

No one but your partner knows what he bid no 
trumps on, and the decision as to whether to go on 
with the no-trumper or play to get penalties from 
the opponents, should be left to him. 

If the second player bids a suit over the no- 
trumper, and you can stop that suit twice, with a 
trick anywhere else, double the suit bid. Never 
go two no trumps. Your partner can do that if he 
wants to, without increasing the contract. Endless 
chances for heavy penalties are lost by forgetting 
this simple rule. 

This is about the only double that can be safely 
trusted in the hands of any beginner. There are 
two others that he may watch opportunities for and 
experiment with occasionally. They are valuable 
chiefly with good partners. 

If the player on your right bids no trump, and you 
have a very good no-trumper yourself, two courses 
are open to you. You can bid two no trumps and 
chance it, or you can double. In many cases the 
safer plan is to bid two, as you cannot lose the game 
if you play the hand. 

Your partner will take you out with any five card 
suit in either case, unless the suit is a minor one and 
he has good cards in it, in which case he will go two 
no trumps if you have doubled, or let you alone if 
you have bid the two. 

The other case is when the dealer bids a suit, and 
you have nothing in it, but have a no-trumper in 
the three other suits. Some players double the suit 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 87 

bid. This commands the partner to go no trumps 
if he can stop that suit in case it is led up to him. 
If he cannot do this, he may call a suit of his own, 
or leave the double alone, according to his judgment 
of the possibilities of his own cards. 

As an example of such a double, the dealer bid 
one diamond. Second hand had ten and deuce only, 
but he held ace queen deuce of hearts ; ace king ten 
small in clubs; ace queen jack in spades. His part- 
ner bid spades on four to the ten, as he could not 
stop the diamonds, and they went game. 

This is a dangerous double in any but experienced 
hands and is more likely to do harm than good. It 
is much safer to bid a suit, or to sit tight and save 
the game. 



XXIII 
BIDDING AGAINST NO-TRUMPERS 

When the player on your right starts the bidding 
with one no trump he gives no indication of strength 
or weakness in any particular suit. He is often 
taking a chance, and if he is left alone he may be 
oadly set ; but the moment any one takes him out of 
it he either subsides or shifts to a safer bid. 

The second bidder should never forget that every 
no-trumper has a hole in it; one weak spot in the 
armor, and that if this spot can be found the oppo- 
nents will not only save the game but may score 
heavy penalties. A very good player bid no trumps 
on ace king queen small in spades, king queen jack 
ten in diamonds, queen ten and small in clubs, and 
the king and nine of hearts. The second player said 
nothing, but led a small club, and the king of dia- 
monds was the only trick the declarer made. Had 
the second hand bid clubs, third hand would have 
bid spades and gone game, as he had no clubs. 

There are two things for the second hand to re- 
member when a no-trumper is declared on his right. 
The first is that he will have the lead, so there is no 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 89 

need to show the partner a suit by bidding it. 
Leading it will do that most effectually. The sec- 
ond is that the third hand may take out the no- 
trumper with a suit. In that case the no-trumper 
will be laid on the table, and its weak spots exposed. 

This brings us to one of the most important rules 
in the game for the beginner, perhaps the most im- 
portant of all that apply to the first round of bids. 
If beginners and many of those who are not begin- 
ners would paste it on the edge of the table in front 
of them it would save them several hundred points 
every time they play. The rule is this : 

If the player on your right bids no trump, let 
him play it, no matter what you hold. 

The expert knows there are several exceptions to 
this rule, but the perception of the exceptional situ- 
ation is based on ripe judgment, which the beginner 
does not possess. 

The state of the score, for instance, may show 
that if the dealer is left in with his no-trumper he 
may go game with only the odd trick, or the second 
player's hand may be such that there is a fair chance 
or even a certainty of winning the game against a 
no-trumper, or he may see that he has a perfectly 
safe bid for two or three tricks, which will at least 
force the no-trumper just a trick beyond what it 
can make. Many a hand that can make two odd 
and go game cannot make three. 

But all such matters require the exercise of nice 
judgment and a certain ability to calculate the value 



90 AUCTION BRIDGE lOR ALL 

of hands. For the beginner, the safe rule is always 
to pass, because one of three things must be the case 
if the second bidder has not a game hand, without 
any assistance from his partnen 

1. If the declarer can aJfford to go on with his no- 
trumper in spite of the opposing suit call the second 
bidder is simply wasting his breath. 

2. If the declarer cannot afford to go on and say 
two no trumps all that has been accomplished by 
overcalling him is to warn him of his danger and 
either drive him to a safer bid than no trumps, or 
allow him to use his strength to defeat the opposing 
trump declaration. A hand was played not long 
ago in which a no-trumper was overcalled by two 
hearts, and the no-trump bidder at once said five 
clubs and made them against any possible distribu- 
tion of the cards. 

3. If the second hand is strong enough to make 
his contract, but not the game, against the no- 
trumper, he is wasting his time in playing from six 
to nine points a trick, instead of for fifty. It is 
practically impossible for a no-trumper to go game 
if the second player is strong enough to win eight or 
nine tricks against it with a declared trump. 

Even the best players sometimes make the mistake 
of overcalling a no-trumper second hand when 
cooler judgment should tell them that there is a 
much better chance for penalties than for game, it 
being a recognized principle that nothing short of 
game is worth playing for. 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 91 

But when we come to the fourth hand the circum- 
stances are entirely changed. He has not the lead 
and his partner has no idea where his strength lies, 
nor what suit promises the best defense against the 
no-trumper. 

It frequently happens that the fourth hand has a 
suit of five or six cards, not solid, but headed by two 
or three honors and supported by a reentry, which 
would be just about enough to save the game against 
a no-trumper if he could get the suit led and estab- 
lished before he lost his reentry. If he is left with 
his declaration, the no-trumper is probably weak in 
that suit, and although 50 or 100 points may be lost, 
a game has been saved that might easily have been 
lost if the partner opened the wrong suit. 

Such hands are usually those which contain a suit 
that will be cleared if the partner has any honor to 
lead, or which have possible reentries enough to 
stand the loss of two tricks to clear the suit. Sup- 
pose fourth hand holds five diamonds to the ace jack 
ten; king jack and small in spades and ace of hearts. 
If his partner has either king or queen of diamonds 
the suit is cleared at once, no matter who has the 
other honor. If the partner has neither, one will 
be forced out the first round and the player can still 
get in once, force out the other honor and still have 
a reentry. If he makes only three diamonds, they 
are enough to save the same if he makes both his 
reentry cards. 

Such bids are always made with a view to saving 



92 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

the game, if it can be saved, not with any idea of 
going game against a no-trumper, and they are al- 
ways sacrifice hits, quite wilHng to take a sting if 
left with the contract. The other side can never 
win the rubber if they do not play the hand. 

It is almost impossible for the bid to do any harm. 
If the second hand had a suit that would set the no- 
trumper, that cannot be the suit his partner holds, 
and the two things could hardly be held together, a 
second hand that would beat a no-trumper and a 
hand strong enough to ask for a lead. If they 
were, they should go game if the bidding is properly 
followed up. 



XXIV 
THE NULLO DECLARATION 

Although the official laws of the game refuse to 
recognize the nullo, and it is nowhere played in the 
clubs that do not play cards for fun, there are still 
many who like this addition to the game, and in 
order to give those who are interested in it some idea 
of its tactics, the following brief description is ap- 
pended. 

The nullo is a contract to lose tricks, and the 
player bidding it undertakes to win not more than 
six out of the thirteen, the declaration being always 
at no trumps. 

If he bids one nullo, he means that his opponents 
will get one trick over the book at no trump in spite 
of their efforts to present him with as many tricks 
as they can. Instead of bidding upon what he will 
make himself, as in the regular game of auction, in 
nullos he bids on what his adversaries will make; 
not by their own good play, but by his compelling 
them to take the tricks. 

It will not require more than an hour's experience 
with the new declarations, provided there is at least 
one person at the table who knows something of the 

93 



94 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

bidding tactics and play, to convince any person that 
there is more fun in the nullos than in any other 
declaration in the game. 

While those who have played skat or solo whist 
or boston have an advantage in their knowledge of 
the way dangerous suits should be managed, the 
tactics and the conventions he has learned in those 
games apply to the single player against two or three 
opponents. The exposed dummy and the necessity 
of getting rid of dangerous cards in two hands, 
which must be played in combination, opens up a 
new field, which has interests of its own. 

The chief difficulty in playing nullos lies in the 
bidding. It is the uncertainty attached to this part 
of the game that has led those who play auction for 
a stake to be so prejudiced against it. Owing to the 
fact that the nullo is usually bid by the hand that is 
safe against attack, it is the dangerous cards in the 
partner's hand that are exposed in the dummy. 
This has led to the very general practice of exchang- 
ing the hands of declarer and dummy, as soon as the 
last bid is made. 

It is not as easy to lose tricks as it looks, 
especially when the other side is trying to give them 
to you. The taking powers of a five spot are some- 
times remarkable in playing nullos, and the way aces 
and kings can be discarded is rather astonishing to 
the novice at the game. 

But there are a number of fine points in connec- 
tion with the tactics of playing nullo which are to- 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 95 

tally foreign to anything the average bridge player is 
familiar with. It will no longer be a game of aces 
and kings, but of deuces and treys. 

Some writers condemn the nuUo as an individual 
speculation, and suggest that it is not a partnership 
game, and presents no opportunities for subtility of 
inference. That such opinions are based more on 
imagination and prejudice than on experience must 
be evident to any one who has played boston, or 
skat, or solo whist, or nada, or cayenne. 

In the first place, there is no declaration which is 
based so clearly upon the partner's initiative as the 
nullo. No better evidence of this can be offered 
than the fact that it is seldom or never necesssiry to 
take the partner out of a nullo bid. 



XXV 
SCORING AT NULLOS 

The present rank of the suits in bidding at auc- 
tion is clubs 6, diamonds 7, hearts 8, spades 9, nullos 
10, and no trumps 10. While the last two are of the 
same value, the no-trumper will outbid the nullo, no 
matter which bid is made first. This is a point on 
which some persons appear to get confused. If A 
bids a nullo one no-trump will overcall it, although 
the nullo was bid first and is worth 10. If the no- 
trump is bid first it will take two nullos to overcall. 

The nullo may be doubled and redoubled once, 
just like any other declaration, and 50 or 100 may 
be scored for little or grand slam, but there are no 
honors to be scored by either side. 

The player bidding a nullo names the number of 
tricks over the book that he will compel his op- 
ponents to take, not the number of tricks he will take 
himself. Some persons have an idea that a nullo 
player names the actual tricks he will win regardless 
of any book, so that if he bids four nullos he under- 
takes to win only four actual tricks. This is a mis- 
take. If that is what he means he should bid three 
nullos, which is a contract to make the opponents 

96 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 97 

take three tricks over the book, leaving the declarer 
with four tricks. 

The score is always counted by the number of 
tricks taken by the opponents of the declaration. If 
the bid is three nullos by Y and Z and it found that 
A and B have won three by cards, then Y-Z have 
made good on their contract. If A-B have won 
four or five by cards then Y-Z are so much over 
their contract and score for the extra tricks, just as 
they would for tricks won over the contract in a 
positive declaration. 

The penalties are counted in the same way. Sup- 
pose Y-Z are the declarers, to make three nullos, 
and at the end of the hand A and B have won only 
two by cards. The nullo contract is set by one 
trick, losing 50 points penalty in the honor column ; 
100 if doubled, 200 is redoubled. 

In case of a revoke the tricks are given to the re- 
voking side, instead of being taken from it. Sup- 
pose the contract is four nullos by Y-Z and at the 
end of the hand A-B have won only two by cards, 
but have revoked. As the hand stands the nullo 
contract has failed by two tricks, but if the side not 
in error gives three tricks to A-B they will have won 
five by cards, and the nullo contract has not only 
been fulfilled but has a trick over, and scores five 
by cards, or 50 toward game. 

If the declarer of the nullo revokes he scores 
nothing at all, and the other side takes 100 penalty 
in honors for the revoke, in addition to any penal- 



98 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

ties for a failed contract, but no tricks are given in 
this case, as the opponents of the declaration never 
take tricks in penalty, only points. Suppose Y-Z 
have bid four nullos and revoke while A-B win only 
three by cards. The contract has failed for a trick. 
That is 50 points. The revoke is 100 more. This 
is 150. 



XXVI 
THE BIDDING AT NULLOS 

Time and experience will show just by what scale 
to measure hands up for nullos and will undoubt- 
edly suggest certain conventions such as are now 
thoroughly well understood in straight auction. 
These will gradually become as intelligible a lan- 
guage to the partner as anything we now have in the 
game. 

One thing seems already to be pretty well estab- 
lished, and that is the risk that a dealer quite need- 
lessly runs in bidding nullos originally, and that a 
nullo player need never expect to get the contract 
for less than three tricks, although he may hold it 
for two if the hands are pretty well split up. 

If it is true that few nullo contracts can be ob- 
tained for less than three tricks there can be no 
harm in inducing the partner to bid one or two 
nullos as a starter. 

The reason that the dealer should avoid original 
nullo bids is that they are non-inf ormatory as to the 
length and distribution of the suits. An original 
pass shows a hand below average in high cards. 
If the cards are still high enough to be unsuitable 

99 



100 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

for a nullo, such as eights, nines, and tens, the 
dealer can show it by refusing to support his part- 
ner's nullo declarations. If they are deuces and 
treys, he should support the nullo, just as he would 
support a no-trumper with aces and kings. 

It is now conventional to bid two tricks on either 
of the losing suits, clubs or diamonds, when they 
offer unusual support for a no-trumper, such as 
A K Q and three others ; but to bid two tricks on 
the winning suits, hearts and royals, only when a no- 
trumper is not wanted. 

But if the nullo declaration is to be part of the 
game all two-trick bids in minor suits should indi- 
cate a hand suitable for either no trumps or nullos. 
The high cards must be good for no trumps; the 
small cards for nullos. This is one of the difficul- 
ties of the nullo bids. 

The A K Q 5 3 2 would be an excellent nullo 
suit; but the A K Q 9 8 7 would not. The inter- 
mediate cards," the seven to the jack, are very bad 
nullo combinations when without smaller cards, so 
that the dealer should not bid two tricks unless he 
is safe in the suit, having the deuce, and one or 
two others below the seven. 

No long suit is safe without the deuce. 

As a general rule, any original bid of two tricks 
in a minor suit should convey to the partner an 
opportunity to choose between two declarations. 
Under the present system a two-trick bid in hearts 
or spades means " Let me alone, no matter what you 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL loi 

have. I want this suit for the trump." With nullos 
added to the game two tricks bid in a minor suit 
should mean, " if this suit is no use to you as the 
trump, or part of a no-trumper, perhaps you can 
shift to a nullo with advantage to both of us.'* 

The dealer's partner, in considering a nullo bid, 
must calculate to win some tricks. If he waits 
until he has nothing but deuces and treys and some 
assurance that there will be nothing but fours and 
fives in the dummy, he will be like the timid persons 
who never bid no trumps unless they have sure 
tricks in all four suits. When third hand is en- 
couraged to start a nullo by the dealer's show of 
weakness, he must be prepared to drop it if the 
dealer does not support it. But if the dealer sup- 
ports the nullo bid, after having started with a pass 
or a two-trick bid, the third hand should feel pretty 
safe in pursuing the declaration, even if he has 
several high or intermediate cards in his hand. 

Singletons and even two-card suits are very use- 
ful in nullos, as they allow discards in other suits, 
but they are more valuable in the concealed hand 
than in the dummy, as that is the hand that will 
profit most by getting discards which the adversaries 
might otherwise prevent. 

If a nullo is declared by one partner and the 
other has the low cards in two suits, but holds in- 
termediates in a third, he may be pretty well as- 
sured that his partner has the smaller cards in that 
suit and the opponents will not have small cards 



102 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

enough to force more than one trick in it, if that 
even. One partner will often take a chance on 
one suit, with low cards in the others, and if the 
other has very low cards in any suit, that will usually 
be found to be the suit his partner has taken the 
chance on. Just as in a no-trump bid by the dealer, 
if the third hand finds he has all the winners in 
one suit, that is usually the suit the dealer took a 
chance on finding against him. 

The great difference between the nullo or negative 
bids and the positive bids is that the nullo depends 
so much on the partner. Seven top hearts are good 
for seven tricks, no matter what partner has, but 
seven small hearts are not sure losers at nullos. 

We base all no trump bids on averages. The rule 
is a queen above average and three suits stopped. 
Of course, it does not always win out, and seldom 
gets the contract without further bidding, but any 
good player will take the chance time after time, 
night after night, and find it pays in the long run. 

The same principle that wins out on the average 
with the high cards, queen above average, can be 
applied to the small cards at nullos. In no trumps 
you bid on the presence of the high cards ; in nullos 
on their absence. 

Z deals and announces this absence of the high 
cards by passing. Y looks over his cards and finds 
he has not more than two tricks himself. Then the 
adversaries must have about nine. What can the 
third hand lose by challenging them to bid up their 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 103 

hands? If the dealer does not support the nullo, 
it can be dropped. 
Take this case. 







H. J 10 










C. Q J 8 4 3 2 










D. 10 8 










S. K Q 2 






H. 


7 43 


Y 


H. 


AK 86 


C. 


K 9 6 


A B 


C. 




D. 


J 9 




D. 


A K Q 6 5 3 


S. 


A J 9 7 4 


z 

DEALER 

H. Q 9 5 2 

C. A 10 7 5 

D. 7 42 
S. 8 3 


S. 


10 6 5 



Z passes. A might bid spades or pass. Which- 
ever he does, Y would bid clubs in the ordinary- 
game to suggest a lead if B should bid, and B would 
say two diamonds, and with his partner's support 
could go game by trumping the first round of clubs 
if Z led the ace, as all the tricks left for Y and Z 
would be two spades. 

But with nullos in the game Y is not restricted to 
the club suit. He can bid a nullo. He has seven 
honors in his hand, it is true, and his partner may 
have three or four more. What of it? What does 
Y risk by bidding a nullo? 

Some persons would think such a bid was mad- 
ness with nothing smaller than eight in one suit, ten 



104 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

in another, and only one small card to the king and 
queen in a third. But if his partner has no bid to 
start with, where are all the high cards ? 

B overcalls the nuUo with three diamonds, a 
" shout." Z supports his partner with three nullos, 
showing that he has unusually small cards. A bids 
four diamonds. Now Y and Z have got them go- 
ing, and Y says four nullos, which takes five dia- 
monds to overcall. At this B balked, having five 
losing cards, so he thought he would see if A wanted 
to go any further, but A did not. 

Now let us see what happens to the ten honors 
that the Y and Z hands hold between them. They 
are half the honors in the pack, but they are below 
the average. That is the point. Three tens, two 
jacks, three queens, a king and an ace, with no 
suit in either hand shorter than two cards, there- 
fore no opportunity to discard until the third round. 

B led the interior spade six and Z played the eight, 
A the seven and Y the king. Y then led the jack of 
hearts, underplayed it with dummy*s nine so as to 
win the ten of hearts with the queen and discard 
the spade queen on the five of hearts, dummy keep- 
ing the deuce. There is no escape from this for 
A and B. If B wins either first or second heart and 
leads another spade, Y wins it and leads the low 
spade after the hearts are gone. 

The nullo player does not guarantee to lose thir- 
teen tricks, and his game is not to make all his high 
cards take tricks separately, as it is in a no-trumper. 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 105 

The auction player strives to make three tricks with 
the ace, queen, jack, and thinks it a misfortune if 
he makes two only. The nullo player aims to make 
one only with those three cards, or none at all, and 
where the auction player strives to separate his win- 
ning trumps the nullo player tries to bunch all the 
high cards in a suit. 

It is remarkable how the big cards can be bunched 
together on the tricks that must be won, and suits 
that would be good for four or five tricks at no 
trumps can often be got rid of for one or two at 
nuUos if they are managed well. 

It is a fallacy to suppose that nuUos must be all 
deuces and treys and that high cards are fatal to 
success. If the other side have enough high cards 
they must bid them up to get the play. 

There is frequently a doubt as to whether it is 
better to play the hand as a nullo or with a suit 
declaration, although there is never any doubt as 
between a nullo and a no-trumper. Some players 
have an exaggerated idea of the value of a trump 
suit, and while such a suit may be strong enough 
to carry out a contract it may not be the best dec- 
laration for the combined hands by any means. 

Probably one of the first things to attract the at- 
tention of the beginner will be the necessity of 
warning the partner that the nullo bid will come to 
grief if persisted in. 

Some players seem to be unnecessarily anxious 
about the matter and to imagine that unless they 



io6 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

have a hand full of deuces and treys their partner 
will have to win every trick. They forget that the 
partner who bids the nullo must have those deuces 
and treys, and if they have the sixes and sevens, 
there is nothing left for the opponents but high 
cards. 



XXVII 
PLAYING A NULLO HAND 

One of the principal errors into which the begin- 
ner is likely to fall is leading out the smallest cards 
too early in the hand, and giving the other side an 
opportunity to get rid of their high cards at once in 
bunches. Interior leads are very important in play- 
ing nullos. 

Another important thing in playing nullos is the 
control of the lead. While it is true that taking 
the lead means winning a trick, it is also true that 
winning a trick early in the hand may save three or 
four later on. It is the old plan of ducking the first 
round of a long suit so as to catch all the high cards 
later, but just reversed. 

Every beginner at the game will naturally proceed 
to get rid of all his high cards at every opportunity 
to do so when he does not have to win a trick with 
them. If the adversaries play an ace, why not shed 
the king of that suit? After having successfully 
skinned his hand down to spot cards in this manner 
without taking in a trick he will imagine that he 
has been pretty lucky, but there will be occasions 
in which he will find that he has simply rendered 
107 



io8 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

himself powerless for purposes of defense at the 
end. 

It is an axiom in all nuUo games that it is dan- 
gerous to be without the lowest card of your long 
suit, because the adversary that holds the lowest 
card may lead the suit until only you and he have 
any of it left. After taking out of your hand all 
the cards with which you could get rid of the lead 
he puts you in with your long suit and you take the 
rest of the tricks. 

The situation is often brought about without the 
suit being led more than once, the partner of the 
holder of the small card giving his partner discards 
of the higher cards in that suit. The defense to 
this attack is to get the lead and take out that small 
card before you get skinned down to that one suit. 
In order to do this you must keep some of your 
high cards instead of throwing them under higher 
ones or you cannot control the lead. 

In playing against a nullo, there are several points 
to be studied. The most important thing is to give 
the partner discards, and to secure them the player 
usually starts with his shortest suit, or leads an in- 
terior card from three or more. The next thing is 
to keep the smallest cards of suits which the de- 
clarer may be obliged to win at the end of the hand. 

It is astonishing how badly a nullo may be de- 
feated if the adversaries can give each other dis- 
cards. 

The trick of getting the player with a long suit 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 109 

out of all the other suits so that he cannot get rid 
of the lead at the end, when he particularly wants 
to do so, is a part of the game that requires skilful 
management. 

Reverse Bids 

A number of players who have realized the diffi- 
culties attending the declaration of the nuUo, and 
uncertainty of the outcome, owing to the interfer- 
ence of the partner's hand, have adopted a substi- 
tute which is known as reversed bids, the idea being 
to make the smallest cards of each suit win tricks, 
instead of the highest. The rank is therefore from 
the deuce trey four down to the queen king ace. 

In bidding and scoring, the reverse bids have the 
same numerical value as in the regular game, but 
a straight bid outranks a reverse bid, so that it 
would take three clubs reversed to overcall two 
clubs. Two hearts, whether reversed or not, still 
overcall two diamonds or clubs. 

There are no honors, and when one suit is re- 
versed, all are reversed. 

The difference between the reverse and the nullo 
lies in the fact that the declarer is still playing to 
win tricks ; not to lose them, so that if he holds the 
six smallest spades in the pack, and can get the 
declaration on " reversed spades " he is still certain 
of six trump tricks, no matter what his partner has. 
Any suit can be reversed, or the bidder can declare 
a reversed no-trumper. 



PART 11. THE PLAY 

XXVIII 
PLAYING THE HANDS 

There are some who will tell you that the bidding- 
is everything in auction, and that the play of the 
cards does not amount to a hill of beans. One 
might as well say that the bidding on the new sub- 
ways was everything, and that the carrying out of 
the contracts in the actual construction was of little 
or no importance. 

In a club declaration, the winning or losing of a 
single trick may make or break the contract and 
make a difference of 56 points. The same trick, 
lost or won by precisely the same play, might make 
a difference of 670 if the contract were three no 
trumps doubled, and it was the rubber game. 

There are certain recognized principles of play, 
usually spoken of as " conventions," in all games 
of cards, and it is the social duty that every one owes 
to others to learn these conventions before sitting 
down to play in company. To undertake to make 
up a rubber at Auction Bridge without knowing any- 
thing of its principles, is as bad as offering to dance 
with a partner without knowing any of the steps. 
no 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL in 

While a great deal must be left to be gained from 
experience at the card table, reverses of fortune 
usually ripening the judgment, there are many 
things which can be learnt from the text-book, and 
there are others of which the text-book can give 
hints which are sufficient to enable a player to rec- 
ognize the general situation in actual play. 

All examples in a text-book should be gone over 
with the actual cards, and if the reader will take the 
trouble to study the following tactics with the cards 
before him, the principles enunciated should be mas- 
tered without much difficulty, and the result should 
be a certain confidence in one's ability to play cor- 
rectly. 

The tactics of the play fall naturally into two 
distinct parts; that of the partners opposed to the 
winning declaration, who are invariably on the de- 
fensive, and that of the declarer, who is continually 
striving for his contract and the game. 

The difference between these two lies in the in- 
completeness of the partners' knowledge of each 
other's hands, as opposed to the declarer's advantage 
of having his partner's entire hand exposed, while 
his own is concealed. 

If either or both partners have made a bid, some, 
clue is given as to the general character of the hand, 
but the details must be filled out by careful play. 
One of them has bid a club, and it is his lead. 
What has he in clubs? Are there any holes in his 
sequence of high cards or not ? Again ; one partner 



112 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

has bid a heart, and his partner has assisted him 
once. It is the partner's lead. Upon what did he 
assist? Some high hearts, or winners in other 
suits? All these things must be developed in the 
play. 

" What difference does it make," says the un- 
taught player, " whether I lead the ace or the king, 
when either of them will win the trick ? " To which 
the partner echoes, " What does it matter whether 
I put on the king or the queen third hand if a small 
card is led, when nothing but the ace will win the 
trick?" 

The answer is, no difference, if the winning of 
the trick is the only object in view and the partner 
does not care what you have. When the declarer 
is playing a suit, he can do what he likes. He can- 
not deceive his dummy, neither can dummy mislead 
him. But with the partners opposed to the de- 
clarer the case is quite otherwise. Information is 
their only salvation. 

The moment dummy's cards are laid down the 
declarer can see exactly what high cards are against 
him in each suit. This advantage is roughly esti- 
mated as being worth at least a trick on every hand 
the declarer plays. 

Unless the adversaries can reach some knowledge 
of the distribution of the cards, approaching, if not 
equalling that of the declarer, they are bound to lose 
a trick a hand, perhaps two or three, some of which 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 113 

might have been saved, " had they only known," as 
they express it, after the debacle. 

This fact being clearly recognized by all good 
players, they follow certain standard conventions, 
which are known all over the world and which have 
been found to produce the best average results, re- 
gardless of individual lapses. 

The most important of these conventions of play, 
those which every beginner should know, may be 
grouped in some such manner as this : 

1. Leads, that show what high cards are against 
the player and are therefore in the hand of the de- 
clarer if they are not in the dummy. 

2. Echoes, which show how many cards of the 
suit are in the hand of the partner, and, sometimes, 
what those cards are. The return of the leader's 
suit is practically a completed echo. 

3. Discards, indicating protection in suits that 
have not been led, or the command of suits that the 
partner may be doubtful about. 

As the first play in every hand is made by the 
partners opposed to the declaration the beginner 
should study that part of the game first, leaving the 
declarer's play until later. 

There is a marked difference in leading against a 
trump declaration and against no-trumpers, and they 
must be separately considered, because they are al- 
most entirely different games. In playing against 
trump declarations the object is to get home all the 



114 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

tricks you can before the declarer draws your little 
trumps and brings in his long suit, because on this 
long suit in one hand he will discard the losing 
cards he holds in another suit, in which you prob- 
ably hold the high cards. 

But in playing against no-trumpers, there is no 
suit in which the deuce will be better than your ace 
of another suit. Each of the four suits has an equal 
chance, and in playing against a no-trump declara- 
tion your object should be to make the small cards 
of your longest suit good for tricks, keeping the high 
cards in other suits for reentry. 

With two such suits as ace king jack alone in 
one, and ace with four small ones in the other, 
against a trump you would make your aces and 
kings at once. Against a no-trumper, you would 
lead a small card from five to the ace. There is no 
trump suit to kill your high cards in the shorter suit. 

There are two golden rules for the beginner in 
playing against a trump declaration: Get a look 
at dummy's cards before losing the lead if you can ; 
and, Don't carry home any aces. 

The declarer having picked out the trump to suit 
himself may be expected to put it to one of two 
uses. To pull your trumps and make his long suit ; 
or, if he has no good plain suit, to make his trumps 
separately by ruffing. The cards he is going to 
ruff are your winning cards. It is your business, as 
his adversary, to divine his object as quickly as pos- 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 115 

sible and take steps to defeat it. Let us look at a 
few general principles of leading against either dec- 
laration. 



XXIX 

SELECTION OF THE SUIT 

Against a trump declaration : 

If you have any suit headed by both ace and 
king, which is not the trump, lead the king, regard- 
less of what the bidding has been. This gets the 
essential look at dummy's cards while you still hold 
the lead. 

For the second trick, if your partner has declared 
a suit, lead him the best card you hold in it. Then 
he knows you still have the ace of the suit you led 
first and can put you back into the lead at any time. 

If you have no ace-king suit, lead the best card 
of the suit your partner has declared. If he has 
not declared anything, lead any suit headed by two 
touching honors, such as king queen, or queen jack, 
and always lead the higher honor of the two when 
neither of them is the ace. 

Length in suit is unimportant; high cards are 
everything. 

Leads from ace-king suits are the best of all ; leads 
from three honors in sequence come next; leads 
from two in sequence come next. Leads from suits 
headed by a single honor that is not the ace are the 
worst of all openings. 

ii6 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 117 

Avoid, if possible, all suits headed by honors that 
are not in sequence; such as ace and queen; king 
and jack, or queen and ten. If all your plain suits 
are of that nature, lead the trump and wait for the 
plain suits to be led up to you. Trumps should not 
be led originally unless all the plain suits are worse 
leads than the trump suit. 

We shall come to the small-card leads presently, 
which are from suits headed by honors not in se- 
quence. 

With four trumps, it is usually bad policy to 
select a short suit, hoping for a ruff, if you have 
any good long suit. You may get an early force on 
the five-trump hand, and then you have just as many 
trumps as the declarer and just as good a chance 
to make your suit as he has to make his. 

It is also bad policy to select a singleton suit for 
your opening unless you can stop the trump lead 
at once, so as to try your partner on some other 
suit, if he cannot win the suit first led. 

A very important thing to remember is that if you 
have declared a suit, and your partner has not, he 
may be depending on you to lead that suit, and there 
is only one excuse for refusing to lead the suit you 
have declared or the suit your partner has made a 
bid on, and that is a singleton, in a suit which you 
can ruflF. 

Against no-trump declarations. 

Unless you have three honors in sequence, it is 
useless to lead high cards at once, except in your 



ii8 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

partner's suit, if he has declared one. There is 
no need to look at dummy, so that the selection of 
an ace-king suit for that purpose is a waste of good 
material. Those high cards might kill the declar- 
er's queen and jack if you keep them. 

In a no-trumper, the declarer is usually strong or 
well protected in three suits, and your only chance 
is to pick out his weak spot, or to break down some 
of his protection before he gets his long suit es- 
tablished. 

A suit is said to be established when the player 
can take every trick in it, no matter by whom it is 
led. 

The lead is a great advantage at no-trump and the 
eldest hand should be careful not to throw it away. 
The first lead gives you the first move toward get- 
ting a suit established, which is very important. 
For this reason it is folly to waste the lead by open- 
ing a suit in which you can accomplish nothing. 

Having no suit of your own, headed by both ace 
and king, always lead the suit your partner has de- 
clared, and always begin with the best card of it. 
But if you have an ace-king suit, lead the king be- 
fore you lead your partner's suit, so that he may 
know what to do when his suit runs out. If he 
has not made a bid, there is no object in leading 
your ace-king suit unless it is the longest you have. 

Against a trump declaration, high cards are every- 
thing, as we have seen, and length is nothing unless 
jovi h^ye length in trumps with it. Against a no- 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 119 

trumper, length is everything, and high cards should 
be held back. 

Suppose the winning declaration is no trumps and 
you hold five hearts to the ace; ace king small in 
clubs; one diamond, and four spades to the king. 
If you begin with the singleton, you accomplish 
nothing except to deceive your partner. If you be- 
gin with the clubs, you will probably find you have 
established the suit in the hands of the declarer. 
If you lead a spade, you are probably walking right 
up to his ace and queen. 

But if you select the heart suit, leading a small 
card you get four of that suit out of your way, per- 
haps some of the high ones. On getting in with 
your black suits you can very likely establish three 
of your hearts and win tricks with them. If you 
do, the game is saved, even if your partner never 
takes a trick in anything. 



XXX 

THE CARD TO LEAD 

The selection of the suit secures your partner's 
cooperation in its development. The selection of 
the card led from that suit shows him its possibili- 
ties as a trick winner, if it is your suit; or what is 
against him in his. 

The object of selecting certain cards when others 
are equally sure of winning the trick is to affirm or 
to deny the possession of certain other cards. To 
the partnership opposed to the declaration this is 
vital. Sometimes the lead affirms only; sometimes 
it denies only; at times it does both. 

There are three simple rules that govern all the 
opening leads of high cards when the suit is not 
led because the partner has asked for it by his dec- 
laration. 

1. A king led shows that the ace or the queen, or 
both those cards, are behind the king. 

2. An ace led denies the king, or shows seven 
or more in suit when led against a no-trumper. It 
is also led from A Q J. 

3. A queen or a jack led denies any higher cafd 
in the suit, but a jack is sometimes led from A J 
10 at no trumps. 

120 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 121 

From all combinations of cards that are not 
headed by two or more honors in sequence, and 
which are not your partner's declared suit, lead your 
fourth-best, counting from the top. From K 9 8 
7 2, for instance, lead the seven. 

Never lead a two-card suit, unless it is the trump. 
If you have to avoid certain suits, headed by honors 
not in sequence, lead the top of three indifferent 
cards, none as good as a queen. Two-card suits 
are impossible for partner to read. 

These rules are all that are necessary for the 
beginner for the opening leads. Do not bother 
yourself with exceptions; they would only confuse 
you now. Secondary leads we shall come to pres- 
ently. 

It is quite true that in many cases it does not mat- 
ter whether the combination of cards held is cor- 
rectly led from or not, but correct leading is vital 
with a good partner, and every now and then there 
comes up a hand in which a lead that deceives the 
partner may cost several tricks, or even the game 
and rubber. If it makes no difference, why not do 
the correct thing? 

Every one likes to have a player of recognized 
skill for a partner, but such players avoid unreliable 
partners as they would the plague. The whole 
game of the skilful player rests upon his inferences 
as to the location of certain cards, and if he has a 
partner that deceives him all the time, how can he 
hope to bring his skill into play? He is practi- 



122 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

cally opposed by his own partner as much as by the 
declarer. 

Nothing is more instructive than laying out the 
actual cards and playing over a hand, following the 
play step by step, noting the inferences upon which 
the critical plays are based. Take this deal, which 
is from actual play. A is a poor, player, quite 
elated at having such a good player as B for a 
partner. 

The hand is typical of situations that are con- 
tinually cropping up in some form or other at the 
card table and illustrates the consequences that may 
at any time flow from such a simple initial error 
as an incorrect opening lead. 

H. 10 3 2 

C. none 

D. 8 6 5 3 2 
S. AQ J 7 6 

Y 

H. 7 5 H. 8 6 4 

C. AKJ73 A B C. Q642 

D. K 9 7 D. J 10 4 
S. 10 84 z S.K9S 

DEALER 

H. A KQ J 9 

C. 10 9 8 5 

D. AQ 

S. 3 2 

Z bid two hearts, having four honors in one hand. 
Every one passed and A led the ace of clubs. 

This lead is a direct violation of convention and 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 123 

deceives no one but the partner. A should have 
led the king of clubs, which shoves either ace or 
queen behind it. As B has the queen himself he 
would know A had the ace. 

But the ace denies the king, and by this denial 
marks that card as in the hand of the declarer. 
Now let us see what consequences flow from this 
initial error. 

Dummy trumps- and the declarer takes out three 
rounds of trumps, remaining with the lead in Z's 
hand. It is now clear to the declarer that if he can 
make a successful finesse in spades by playing the 
jack from dummy third hand he can put himself in 
again with the ace of diamonds and make at least 
two more spades, giving himself a club discard. 
Then, even if the spades do not all drop, all he can 
lose is two clubs and a diamond, leaving him with 
four odd and the game. 

The spade finesse did not hold, and the game at 
once became impossible, as dummy cannot trump 
the clubs, in which suit Z knows that the king queen 
jack are all against him. 

B wins the spade jack with the king. Now look 
at his idea of the situation. His partner has denied 
the king of clubs by leading the ace, so that card 
must be with Z. If B leads a club, Z regains the 
lead at once, and if he has another spade, all the 
spades must drop in two leads, as A cannot have 
more than three if Z has another. 

From B's point of view the only chance to save 



124 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

the game is to lead a diamond. Had Z been foolish 
enough to play the queen, this would have worked 
out all right ; but Z put the ace right on, led another 
spade and discarded all his clubs, losing a diamond 
trick at the end, but winning five by cards and 
scoring nine honors. 

If A opens his suit correctly, Z must play the hand 
in the same way, as ruffing one more club will not 
win the game, because if Z finesses the diamond, A 
will lead the trump. When B wins the spade trick 
he will lead the queen of clubs (as he knows his 
partner has the ace) and the three club tricks save 
the game. 

Particular attention is called to this error of lead- 
ing the ace when holding both ace and king, because 
it is very common. The only excuse for it, apart 
from ignorance of the conventions, is the fear that 
the partner might trump the king if he had none of 
the suit. 



XXXI 

THE PARTNER'S PLAY 

Before going to the second round of the suit, it 
is essential for the player to master the conventions 
peculiar to the third hand in his answer or " echo " 
to his partner's initial leads of winning cards, be- 
cause his play may largely affect his partner's con- 
tinuation. 

This is the most delicate part of the game, and 
many otherwise good players are sadly deficient in 
it, although three simple rules cover the entire sit- 
uation. 

1. When there is a trump suit, show whether or 
not you can ruff the third round of your partner's 
suit. 

2. When there are no trumps, show how many 
high cards you have in your partner's suit, inci- 
dentally indicating number. 

3. Never make a play that has a double meaning. 
These three rules apply only to cases in which 

the third hand makes no attempt to win the trick, 
his duty being confined entirely to following suit. 

When there is a trump declaration against you, 
there are two things to be kept constantly in view. 

125 



126 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

First, to make your winning cards, aces and kings 
especially, before the declarer discards his losing 
cards in those suits and gets ready to trump. Sec- 
ond, to make tricks with your small trumps before 
the declarer gets into the lead and pulls them. 

Following out these two principles, your partner 
leads out his winning cards at once, and in such a 
manner as to show you what he can do. Your play 
is to show whether or not you can trump his small 
cards when his high ones are gone. 

The rule for the play of the third hand is called 
the down-and-out echo, and is very easily remem- 
bered. If you have only two small cards of the 
suit, play the higher first. When the lower card 
falls, your partner will recognize that you are 
" down and out," and willing to trump. 

But with three or more, always play the lowest, 
no matter what they are. Let us suppose hearts 
are trumps and your partner leads the king of clubs, 
showing he has either the ace or the queen, or both 
back of it. No matter which it is, he must win the 
second round of the suit then or later. Suppose 
you hold two clubs only, six and three. 

Your play is the higher card, the six. His king 
wins and he continues with the ace, upon which you 
drop the three. If he knows the declarer still holds 
a club and that you will not be overtrumped, he 
will lead a third club, and you make a little trump. 

If you do not want to be forced or have no 
trumps, of course you do not make the echo. When 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 127 

one of your two cards is as high as the jack the 
echo is quite unnecessary and is never used. Take 
the same situation, your partner leading king and 
ace when you hold jack and six. 

You play the six to the first trick, and when 
your jack falls on the second round he knows you 
have the queen, which would win the third round, 
or have no more and can trump. But if you played 
the jack first he would lead a small club instead of 
the ace, imagining you had the queen or no more. 

Some players use this echo to show they can win 
the third round with a high card. Holding queen 
six three, for instance, they will play the six and 
then the three on their partner's lead of king and 
ace to *' encourage " him to keep on with that suit. 

In other words, they play down and out with a 
double meaning. Sometimes because they want to 
trump ; sometimes because they have a queen. This 
is a direct violation of one of the cardinal principles 
of partnership play, and an infraction of our third 
rule. All ambiguous plays are fatal to success. 

Here is an illustration of what it sometimes leads 
to in actual play when the partner is put to a guess 
as to the exact meaning of an echo. 

The reader is again reminded that all the illus- 
trative hands should be laid out with the actual 
cards on the table, and the play gone over trick by 
trick. If the reader has any theories of his own 
as to how the hand should be played, he should try 
them out. 



128 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 







H. 


J 8 6 2 










C. 


J 75 










D. 


AQ 9 










S. 


6 5 4 

Y 






H. 


9 7 






H. 


5 43 


C. 


AK9 42 




A B 


C. 


Q ez 


D. 


K 8 






D. 


5 42 


S. 


AQ 72 


H. 
C. 
D. 
S. 


z 

DEALER 

AKQIO 
10 8 

J 10 7 6 3 
J 10 


S. 


K 9 8 3 



Z bid two hearts, probably because he had 64 
in honors to score. A led the king of clubs and B 
played the six. The ace of clubs followed, and B 
played the three, completing an echo. In this case 
the echo was entirely unnecessary, as A could count 
the hands if B plays up. As it is A is put to a guess. 

If the echo means that B has no more clubs, and 
can trump Z's queen, the game is saved, as B is 
certain to lead up to dummy's weakness in spades, 
so A leads another club. 

Instead of B, it is the declarer that trumps, and 
draws three rounds of trumps, remaining with the 
lead, while dummy still has a trump left. The 
finesse in diamonds catches A's king and dummy 
gets two spade discards, so that only one spade 
makes for A and B. 

If B plays the clubs up, as he should, reserving 
the down and out echo exclusively for cases in 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 129 

which he has only two of the suit, A will switch 
to the spade suit as the only chance, as he knows his 
king of diamonds is gone. 

We come now to the second rule for the third 
hand, which is very important. When there are 
no trumps, and your partner leads winning cards, 
or dummy prevents your making any attempt to 
win the trick, you must show your partner what 
you have, especially in the way of high cards. 

If the principles that guide the leader in opening 
against a no-trumper have been carefully studied, 
it will be seen that his object is to make tricks with 
the smaller cards of his long suit by getting the 
higher cards out of his way. 

Now, it does not matter who has those cards, 
partner or opponents. The point is that they ob- 
struct a number of smaller cards in the leader's 
hand which will never be good for anything until 
the higher ones are gone. If the declarer holds 
these cards, they must be forced out or caught. If 
the leader's partner holds them, they should be given 
up, willingly and at once. 

The play of the declarer, as we shall see when 
we come to his part of the game, is to block these 
long suits as long as possible ; to hold on to the com- 
mand of them and play his own suits, so as to force 
out, if possible, the reentry cards that would bring 
in the opponent's suit. 

If the partner holds up the command of the lead- 
er's suit he is playing the declarer's game. If he 



130 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

declines to go on with the suit, the one to which 
he shifts does exactly what the declarer wants ; takes 
out the reentries for the suit first opened. 

The third hand must never obstruct a suit in 
which the leader is longer. If one has five or six 
cards and the other only three, the three should be 
so played that the five or six shall have a clear field. 
This consideration leads us to the formation of one 
of the most important rules in playing against no- 
trumpers, a rule which even the best players are too 
apt to forget. 

When the third hand makes no attempt to win 
the trick, he should always play his second-best 
card of the suit, regardless of number or value. 
This is generally called the Foster echo, as it was 
first explained and advocated by him, like the eleven 
rule, which we shall come to presently. 

This method of playing the second-best has a 
double advantage. It makes sure of unblocking the 
partner's suit by keeping the smallest card, so as 
to get out of his way, and it frequently exposes 
false cards played by the declarer. 

Suppose the original lead is a queen, and dummy 
lays down small cards only. Third hand holds the 
king nine and deuce. His play is the nine, as it is 
not necessary for him to make any attempt to win 
the trick. Now, if the lead is from queen jack ten 
and others, the declarer is marked with the ace, and 
third hand with the king. 

If the third hand held the ace he would put it on, 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 131 

so as not to let the king win the first round. The 
third hand cannot possibly hold both ace and king, 
or the nine would not be his second-best, therefore 
he has only one card higher than the nine, and it is 
not the ace. 

It sometimes happens that dummy plays a card 
which prevents the third hand from making any 
attempt to win the trick, although a small card is 
led. The rule must be followed precisely as if the 
partner had led the card that shuts out the third 
hand. 

Suppose the lead is a small club. Dummy puts on 
the ace, and third hand holds king jack three. His 
play is the jack, not the three, marking him with 
one higher honor (or no more of the suit). If the 
smallest card is played, the partner may be afraid 
to lead the suit again. 

Here is a hand which illustrates how this echo 
sometimes works out in practice. 







H. 


Q J74 










C. 


A 










D. 


Q 8 7 6 4 3 2 








S. 


K 

Y 






H. 


10 9 3 






H. 


8 6 5 2 


C. 


J 10 9 7 3 2 




A B 


C. 


KQ 4 


D. 








D. 


A 9 


S. 


'j's 42" 


H. 
C. 
D. 
S. 


Z 

DEALER 
AK 
8 6 5 

K JIO 5 
AQ76 


S. 


10 9 8 3 



132 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

Z bid no trump, and A led his fourth-best club, 
the seven. When dummy put on the ace, B care- 
lessly played the small club and the declarer went 
game. 

If B follows the rule and gives up the queen, Z 
may manage the hand in several different ways, but 
the moment he has to lead a diamond, B is in with 
the ace, and five more clubs make, saving the game. 
The situation is an interesting study in getting out 
of the way in three suits. Play it over. 

Y should have taken his partner out with two 
diamonds. If a player will take out a no-trumper 
with only five cards in a major suit, which requires 
four odd to go game, why should he not take him 
out with six or seven in a minor suit, which takes 
only one trick more? 

So far we have looked at the two leading rules 
for the third hand only in the light of those occa- 
sions in which he makes no attempt to win the trick 
himself. Before troubling the student with any 
details of unblocking high cards with high cards, 
attention must be directed to a very important point 
in the play of the third hand when he either wins 
or attempts to win the trick. 

When a small card is led and dummy plays small, 
the play of the third hand is the same whether the 
declaration is a trump or no trump, and the rule 
governing it is always the same: 

Never pay a dollar for a trick that you can get 
for fifty cents. 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 133 

Many bridge players have inherited or borrowed 
the old whist maxim, " Second hand low ; third hand 
high," which is one of the most misleading attempts 
to abbreviate a rule that was ever grafted upon a 
game. 

The terms high and low in this maxim refer to 
the distinction between high cards and low cards; 
not to the top and bottom cards of the suit. Un- 
fortunately, those who are in the habit of guiding 
their play by such maxims as this take it for granted 
that " third hand high " means the highest card 
they hold. 

If the leader starts with a small card and dummy 
plays small, third hand holding ace six deuce, his 
play is the ace, which is a high card, as distinguished 
from the six and deuce, which are low cards. But 
if the third hand holds ace king deuce, his play is 
the king, not the ace. He is still playing third hand 
high, but he is not paying a dollar for a trick that 
he can get for fifty cents. 

A much more comprehensive rule for the third 
hand is to win the trick as cheaply as possible, esti- 
mating the cost by the value of the card required. 
If a player wins the first round of a suit with a 
nine, he naturally remarks, " That was a cheap 
trick," but if he has to put up an ace to beat a seven 
he considers it expensive. 

If we say aces are worth a dollar and kings fifty 
cents, queens only a quarter, we get a working idea 
of values to start with. So far as winning the 



134 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

trick is concerned, it does not make the slightest 
difference whether you take it with the ace or the 
king when you hold both; but if you pay a dollar 
for a trick that you could have had for fifty cents 
you deceive your partner as to the value of your 
hand. He underestimates it. He thinks you have 
exhausted your capital in that suit, when he should 
have been told that you still had a dollar left. 

From any combination of high cards that are in 
sequence, or " touch," play the lowest of the se- 
quence third hand. If you hold queen jack ten, play 
the ten. From king queen jack, play the jack; 
from king queen, the queen. The card played de- 
nies the card next in sequence below it. 

If dummy holds the intermediate card this rule 
is often important. Suppose you hold king and 
jack, dummy having the queen, but playing small. 
The jack is practically in sequence with the king, as 
nothing but the ace will beat it. If you play the 
king you deny the jack when the queen is in dummy. 

The violation of this rule frequently frightens 
the partner out of continuing his suit, especially if 
he is a good player and watches the fall of the cards 
carefully. The denial of certain cards in his suit 
in the play is quite as important as the denial of the 
suit itself in the bids. 

Suppose he leads a small card from five to the 
king. Dummy has nothing. Third hand plays the 
queen and the declarer the ace. This marks the 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 13^ 

jack with the declarer. If the third hand played 
the jack, won by the ace, he is marked with the 
queen, because the declarer would not pay a dollar 
for a trick that he could get for a quarter. If he 
could win the jack with the queen, he would never 
give up the ace and make the king good. 

Some players insist that it does not matter 
whether they win the trick with the ace or the king 
if they come right back with the other winning 
card. But it does matter, because winning a 
trick with the ace and returning the king is a con- 
ventional way of playing down and out, to show no 
more of the suit and a willingness to trump the third 
round. 

Here is an example of the trouble this improper 
play of the third hand may lead to. 







H. 


A 3 










C. 


10 7 S 










D. 


Q J 9 8 7 2 










S. 


K 6 

Y 






H. 


K 9 2 






H. 


Q Jio 8 


C. 


J 9 8 64 




A B 


C. 


KQ 3 


D. 


K 5 






D. 


10 6 


S. 


Q J7 


H. 
C. 
D. 
S. 


z 

DEALER 
7 6 5 4 

A 2 
A 4 3 
A 10 9 5 


S. 


8 432 



136 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

Z bid no trump, which every one passed. A led 
a small club, the six, dummy playing the seven and 
B the king, which Z won with the ace. 

A at once infers that B had to play the king in 
his attempt to win the trick, therefore he cannot 
hold the queen, which must be with Z. The de- 
clarer led the ace of diamonds, hoping to catch the 
king, and followed with another, putting A in. 

Now if A leads a heart, dummy gets right in to 
make four more diamonds. If A leads the club, 
Z gets in, and puts dummy in with another diamond 
or a heart, and again those diamonds all make. The 
only chance seems to be the spade, so A leads the 
queen through dummy's king, hoping B has the ace. 

[The student should observe that if Z has the 
queen of clubs, both ten and queen make if A leads 
a club.] 

Dummy won the spade, and made his four dia- 
monds, upon which B discarded the small club, the 
eight of hearts and two spades, while Z shed two 
hearts and then a club. A had to unguard some- 
thing, and was afraid to unguard the clubs while 
dummy had ten and another and the ace of hearts 
to get in with, so he let go a spade, keeping two 
clubs and two hearts. This allowed Z to make 
three spade tricks, on the second of which A dis- 
carded the nine of hearts, expecting dummy to 
blank the ace and make the club ten, so that when 
Z led the heart, the ace dropped both king and 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 137 

queen, and Z made the last trick with the seven of 
hearts, little slam. 

If B plays correctly on the first trick, A will lead 
another club, and four clubs, with the king of dia- 
monds, save the game. 



XXXII 

THE ELEVEN RULE 

By their selection of certain high cards to lead, 
good players indicate to the partner that certain 
other high cards remain in their hand or are against 
them. The player who leads a king, for instance, 
shows that either the ace or queen, or both those 
cards, are behind the king. The player who starts 
with a queen or an ace denies the king and marks 
that card as out against him. 

Exceptional leads at no trumps are noted else- 
where. 

But when the player has no such combination of 
high cards from which to lead, he cannot indicate 
the possession of single honors, or of two that are 
not in sequence. There is no system of leading 
that will show the partner the king and ten at the 
head of a suit, or that ace and queen are out against 
him. 

Although the leader cannot tell his partner ex- 
actly what the high cards are, he can do the next 
best thing, and tell him how many there are which 
are higher than the card he leads. This is accom- 
plished by selecting from among the small cards 

138 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 139 

what is called the fourth-best, counting from the 
top, or " the card of uniformity." 

Let us take an example and follow it up. The 
leader's best suit is the K 10 8 7 3 of clubs. The 
fourth-best, counting from the top, is the seven, 
and that is the correct card to lead. Some persons 
do not believe in this lead against a trump declara- 
tion, and use it only against no trumpers ; but there 
can be no harm in using it upon all occasions. One 
never knows when it may be helpful. 

The original idea of this lead was simply to show 
length. If a smaller card than the one led was 
missing, discarded, or played, such as the trey in the 
example given, the leader was marked with five in 
suit. If he started with the smallest he could hold, 
such as the deuce, he had four only. 

The writer discovered, about thirty years ago, that 
this card of uniformity was capable of giving much 
more valuable information than the number of cards 
in the suit, and that the higher the card led the more 
positive the information became. 

A careful examination of every possible com- 
bination of cards that would beat the card led, re- 
vealed the interesting fact that when a card of a 
given denomination was led, the number of higher 
cards that would beat it was always the same. 

This led to the formulation of what is known 
as the eleven rule, first published in 1890, and stated 
thus: 

If the spots on the card led are deducted from 



140 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

eleven, the difference is the number of cards, higher 
than the one led, that are out against the leader of 
that suit. 

In our example, leading the 7 from K 10 8 7 3, 
the partner would deduct 7 from 11 and get 4. 
Some of these four may be in dummy ; he may hold 
some. The remainder are in the hand of the de- 
clarer. 

Suppose dummy puts down the Q 9 4, and third 
hand holds A J 5. The four cards higher than the 
seven are all in sight, Dummy has two of them, 
Q and 9; third hand has the others, A and J. If 
dummy plays the 4, the 7 will hold the trick. If 
dummy puts on the 9, the J is enough to win it. 

The beginner should take a pack of cards and sat- 
isfy himself that this rule is invariable, provided the 
small card led is always the fourth-best of the lead- 
er's suit. The expert player, by combining this 
rule with his inferences from the bidding, can put 
it to uses that the beginner is not quick enough to 
see, but every player should accustom himself to 
counting the number of cards out against his part- 
ner, higher than the one led, and should try to in- 
fer what they are when some are in the hand of the 
declarer. 

Here is an interesting example of the way a good 
player will take advantage of the information gained 
from the eleven rule. 

The play depends on proper attention being paid 
to the preliminary bids. 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 141 





' 


H. 


10 8 4 2 










C. 


Q 8 4 










D. 


7 6 4 










S. 


A J 9 

Y 






H. 


9 5 






H. 


AK 6 3 


C. 


J 6 3 




A B 


C. 


A 5 2 


D. 


Q J952 






D. 


AK 


S. 


K 6 5 


H. 
C. 
D. 
S. 


Z 

DEALER 

Q J7 
KIO 9 7 
10 8 3 
Q 72 


S. 


10 8 4 3 



All passed up to B, who bid no trump. Z led the 
seven of clubs, his fourth-best, dummy played small, 
and Y at once read that the lead showed only four 
clubs higher than the seven out against his partner. 
Of these, three are in sight; he had queen eight 
himself; dummy had the jack. Therefore the de- 
clarer had only one club that would beat the seven. 

Y inferred that the declarer's card must be ace 
or king, and could not be the ten, because if Z had 
held both ace and king he would have bid a club. 
Confident that he was correct in this inference, Y 
played the four, not the queen, and B had to put on 
the ace to win the trick. 

Now B cannot possibly make more than six tricks, 
because there is no way to get dummy into the lead 
to make the three established diamonds after the 
ace and king are out of his way. Had Y care- 
lessly played the queen of clubs on the first trick 



142 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

without stopping to apply the eleven rule, dummy's 
jack of clubs would not only have been good for a 
trick on the second or third round of clubs, but 
would have brought in those three diamonds, win- 
ning the game. 

In addition to the regular third hand plays, down 
and out echos, unblocking, and the eleven rule, there 
are one or two exceptional cases which may as well 
be mentioned here in connection with the first round 
of the suit. 

When a good player opens with an ace against 
a no-trumper he is trying to catch something. If 
the lead is from A Q J, he hopes to drop the king. 
It is therefore the duty of the third hand, if he 
holds king and only one other card, to give up the 
king at once, so as to be out of the way of his 
partner's queen and jack. If the leader has seven 
cards of a suit to the ace king, he will start with 
the ace, which conveys to the partner the same invi- 
tation to give up the queen if he has two only, as 
the lead cannot be from A Q J. 

With no reentry, playing against a no-trumper, 
good players lead the queen from A Q J, so as to get 
the king out of the way at once. Third hand should 
always give up the king on a queen led, holding only 
two cards of the suit, king and small. 



XXXIII 
THE THEORY OF THE FINESSE 

Two broad principles govern the finesse in auc- 
tion bridge, and it would be worth some points in 
any player's game to paste them in his hat for ref- 
erence until he has them firmly fixed in his mind. 

The first is that the principal source of gain for 
the declarer is through judicious finessing. The 
second is that the opponents of the declaration 
should never finesse under any circumstances. 

A finesse is an attempt to win a trick with a card 
which is not the best you hold in that suit nor in 
sequence with it. It is quite distinct from ducking, 
in which there is no attempt to win the trick. 

If you hold the ace and queen of an unplayed suit, 
and try to win the first round with the queen, sec- 
ond or third hand you are finessing. If you have 
six to the ace and king in one hand, only two small 
in the other and play small from both hands, you 
are ducking. 

The object of the finesse is to win a trick with 

an inferior card, and the only hope of success is 

when the superior card lies to your right. If it is 

on your left the finesse fails. If your partner has 

143 



144 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

it there is no finesse, as it does not matter which 
card you play. 

In order to make this clear to the beginner, let us 
take a typical case. The declarer holds ace queen 
and one small club. Dummy has two small only. 
If dummy leads and the second hand plays small, 
the declarer plays the queen, as that is the only 
way to make two tricks in clubs. Every player is 
supposed to learn this simple finesse when first he 
takes up the game, but very few understand exactly 
what they are doing when we come to study the 
other hands. 

Suppose dummy holds the king of clubs, there is 
no finesse, as either ace or queen will win the trick 
and they are therefore equal cards. Suppose again 
that dummy has not the king and that the second 
player does not follow suit. Here again there is 
no finesse, as you know the king is on your left and 
must make. If you play the queen you simply 
throw it away. 

Now let us shift the position of the ace and queen 
to the hand of one of the adversaries, whose part- 
ner leads a small club. If dummy is on the left of 
the ace and queen and has not the king there is no 
finesse. It is a certainty. 

If dummy has the king, to play the queen is to 
throw it away. Shift the position and suppose 
dummy on the right of the player with ace and 
queen. If the king is in the dummy but a small 
card is played second hand, the queen is a certainty. 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 145 

Now we come to the position of which so few be- 
ginners grasp the importance. Suppose dummy is 
on the right of the ace and queen but has not the 
king, so that a small card is played from dummy 
second hand. It should be obvious that if the king 
is with the declarer, to play the queen would be to 
throw it away. If the king is with your partner, 
who led the suit, your ace and queen are equal cards 
and it does not matter which you play. 

From the consideration of these various positions 
good players have evolved the rule that the third 
hand should never finesse, because the finesse is 
against the partner and cannot gain anything. You 
finesse against an adversary, hoping to make a trick 
by it. What is the use of taking a trick that your 
partner could have won just as easily as you could? 

The beginner cannot be too often impressed with 
the importance of the fact that if he finesses against 
his partner and the finesse fails his partner will 
never credit him with the higher card that he should 
have played. 

When the declarer finesses an ace queen suit he 
is always finessing against one of his adversaries. 
When one of his adversaries makes a finesse, no 
matter what the position, he is always finessing 
against his own partner. 

Strange to say, this is one of the most common 
faults in the beginner's game. He is continually 
trying to win tricks with cards that are not the best 
he holds in the suit, on the chance that his partner 



146 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

has the card finessed against. If the declarer can 
make a couple of successful finesses in a suit he may 
succeed in catching a doubly guarded king with his 
ace. That is a clear gain of a trick. If one of his 
opponents succeeds in catching his own partner's 
king by such finesses it is usually a clear trick lost. 

When the finesse is a gamble pure and simple, 
there being no reason for it, the error is usually due 
to ignorance of conventional play ; but if the finesse 
is excusable by some object other than catching the 
card finessed against, or making an extra trick with 
an inferior card, that is another matter. It may be 
vitally important for a player to hold the best of a 
suit for reentry purposes, and he may make a finesse 
for the purpose of holding that card. 

Then again, a player may hold up the best of a 
suit with a view to catching some card that is ex- 
posed in the dummy. In this case he is not finessing 
at all, because the card finessed against is not in the 
dummy. He is ducking, hoping to catch dummy's 
card at some future time. 

If it is vital to catch that inferior card, or if there 
is a strong probability that something important 
may be gained by it beyond the trick itself, the 
finesse against the partner may be excused, but the 
beginner has not the ripe judgment necessary for 
such situations and should let them alone. 

All such plays come under the head of finesses 
against the partner, and unless there is some de- 
cided gain in view which will more than compensate 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 147 

for the loss of the immediate and certain trick they 
are losing plays and are at times very costly. Here 
is an example of this faulty finessing, the play being 
made by a person who enjoyed considerable reputa- 
tion as an expert at the game. 





H. 


8 6 








C. 


Q 9 2 








D. 


K 9 5 3 








S. 


AQ64 

Y 






H. Q J 7 






H. 


10 9 5 3 


C. 10 8 7 4 3 




A B 


C. 


A J 6 5 


D. J 7 2 






Du 


QIO 


S. 7 2 


H. 
C. 
D. 

S. 


Z 

DEALER 

AK 4 2 
K 

A 8 6 4 
J 10 9 3 


S. 


K 8 5 



Z bid no trump, which every one passed. A led 
his fourth-best club, the four, dummy played small 
and B finessed the jack, his idea being that if his 
partner had the king they could catch dummy's 
queen between them. 

But if the finesse fails the king makes, which is 
just as bad as if the queen made, and which has 
the additional disadvantage that the declarer gets 
his suit going before the adversaries clear up theirs. 
There is no important or further gain in view ; noth- 
ing but the trick that would otherwise be won by 
the queen. 



148 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

B's play is based on the chance that his partner 
holds the king, and the finesse is therefore against 
A, just as the declarer's finesse with an ace jack 
suit, dummy having the king, would be based on the 
hope that an opponent on the right of the ace and 
jack held the queen. In this case the declarer would 
know his partner held the king. In the hand under 
consideration B is taking a chance on it. 

Now look at the result. Z wins with the single- 
ton king, and dummy still stops the suit if A can 
be kept out of the lead. This makes it perfectly 
safe for Z to finesse against A as deeply as he 
pleases. Neither A nor B can catch that queen of 
clubs as long as A is not in the lead, no matter 
which of them has the ace. 

Z leads the spade jack, and when A plays small 
dummy lets it go. B wins it with the king. This 
finesse lost, but it also gained. B tried to get his 
partner in by leading up to the weakness in hearts. 
Z played the ace and made three spade tricks, win- 
ning the last round with the ten. 

Then he led the eight of diamonds, and as A did 
not cover it dummy ducked and B was in the lead 
again. The beginner should observe that this is not 
a finesse, because Z has no idea of winning the trick 
with the eight of diamonds. He is simply placing 
the lead. B tried once more to get his partner in 
with a heart, Z put on the king and made three dia- 
mond tricks, winning the game on the hand. 

Look at the difference if B refuses to finesse 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 149 

against his partner on the first trick. The ace of 
clubs drops Z's king, the jack is returned and the 
queen forced out, while B still holds the spade king 
for reentry and a fourth club to lead to A. 

Z must try the spade finesse, as he cannot win the 
game without the spade tricks, and whether he puts 
himself in with a diamond or a heart the result is 
the same, the spade king and the two established 
clubs save the game, as there is a trick already at 
home with the club ace. 



XXXIV 
SECOND ROUND OF THE SUIT 

The first card led marks the class of hand; the 
next lead should identify it. 

There are six combinations from which a king 
is led against a trump declaration. These are: 
A K Q J, A K Q, A K J, A K, K Q J, K Q, with 
small cards of various values. The second lead 
should show the partner which one of these six the 
leader held. 

These secondary leads are governed by the gen- 
eral principle that it is useless to tell your partner 
anything that he already knows if you can tell him 
something he does not know. 

If your king wins, he knows you have the ace. 
From the first combination given, follow with the 
jack. This tells him that there is no necessity for 
you to give up a dollar to win the next trick, when 
a quarter is enough. 

From the second combination, follow with the 
queen, which denies the jack. From the third, 
most players prefer to go right along if there is any 
chance that the partner can ruff, but if dummy has 
three of the suit, none of them the queen, they will 
shift, hoping to make both ace and jack if they can 
get a lead through the declarer. 
ISO 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 151 

To follow the king with the ace denies the queen. 
Do not forget that. Whether the king wins or not, 
when it is led from K Q J, lead the jack next time. 
Your partner knows you have the queen; tell him 
something he does not know. If you lead the king 
from K Q and small cards, and the king wins you 
naturally assume that your partner has the ace. 
Follow with your original fourth-best. This denies 
the jack. 

Against no-trumpers, a small card, the fourth- 
best, would be led originally from two of these 
combinations, A K and others, K Q and others. 
The cards that fall to the first trick must be the 
guide as to what to lead next, when you get in. If 
your partner leads, win as cheaply as you can, as 
you are then third hand. 

Many players refuse to lead a suit headed by the 
ace alone. If such a suit is opened, always lead 
the ace, or you may lose it, if there is a trump suit 
against you. If you have led the ace from A Q J, 
follow with the queen. If from A J 10, follow 
with the jack. 

If you have led the queen from Q J 10, follow with 
the ten if you get in to lead the suit again. To 
lead the jack on the second round denies the ten. 
Many good players lead the queen from Q J 9, 
even against no-trumpers. The queen is a good 
short-suit lead if the jack is behind it, not other- 
wise. 

The ten is sometimes led from K J 10. This is 



152 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

a very bad suit to open, and should be avoided if 
possible. But if it is your long suit in a no-trumper, 
your second lead must be guided by the cards that 
fell on the first trick. 

If the original lead is a fourth best, and you find 
yourself on the second round with any two cards 
that are the second and third best, lead one, so as 
to clear the suit. If you have the best, lead it, espe- 
cially when there is a trump suit against you. Fail- 
ing such high cards, follow with your remaining 
fourth best if you had five or more. Having led 
the 7 from the K 9 8 7 2, the queen winning the 
trick, lead the deuce if you get in again, showing 
your partner five in suit originally. From J 8 7 6 
4 3, after leading the 6, lead the 4. 



XXXV 

THIRD HAND, SECOND ROUND 

When the third hand makes no attempt to win 
the first round, and his partner leads again, he must 
either complete a down and out echo, if he has 
started one, or go on with the Foster echo ; if it is a 
no-trumper. 

Against a trump, if he has played his smallest 
card to the first lead, he plays his next smallest to 
the next lead, unless he tries to win the trick, 
which he would then do as cheaply as possible. 

Against a no-trumper, having played his second- 
best to the first trick, as he made no attempt to win 
it, he must be careful to keep the smallest card 
until the very last. If he had only two in the first 
place, this smaller card fell the first round, of 
course. If he had three originally, say 863, and 
his partner leads ace and then queen, the third hand 
must play the 6 to the first trick, the 8 to the next, 
keeping the 3 to the last. 

With four of the suit, say 8632, his play to the 

second round, after dropping the 6 on the first, 

would be the 3, keeping the 2. This marks him 

with still one higher card than the 6, and one below 

153 



154 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

the 3. Suppose he holds K 8 6 3, partner leading 
A and then Q. The echo, 8 and then 6, not only 
marks him with the king, but with a card smaller 
than the 6. This enables his partner to locate the 
whole suit. 

If the third hand tries to win the second round of 
his partner's suit, the principle is the same as on 
the first round. Win it as cheaply as possible and 
never finesse against your own partner. 



XXXVI 

THE DISCARDS 

Probably no part of the game has given rise to 
more acrimonious discussion than the discards. 
Good players have now about settled down to one 
general rule for all cases: 

Discard from the suit you are not afraid of. 

Beginners often ask their partners what they dis- 
card, and on being told at once remark, " Then that 
is the suit you want me to lead." This is not by 
any means always the case. A player may be com- 
pelled to discard from one suit to protect another; 
but as a rule, if the discard is any card higher than 
a six, the discarder should be willing to have that 
suit led. This is called the " encouraging discard." 

Many players echo or *^ reverse " in their dis- 
cards. If they throw away an eight and then a 
four, especially at no trump, they show a sure trick 
or two in that suit. But if they do not complete the 
echo, discarding one card only, it is for the partner 
to judge whether to lead the suit or not. If they 
discard a four and then an eight, they have nothing 
in that suit. The natural discard is up ; the " re- 
verse discard " is down. 

155 



156 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

The discard is often of value in preventing the 
partners from both keeping the same suit. If one 
shows protection in spades by his discard, the other 
can let all his spades go, if it is necessary to aban- 
don something to protect another suit. But if he 
has nothing, he should keep a spade to lead. 

It is very bad play to unguard a suit of three, or 
even two cards, headed by jack or queen, when 
playing against a no-trumper. It is also bad play 
to betray your partner's hand by getting entirely 
void of suit. 

The only argument against discarding from the 
suit in which you are strong is that you may be 
throwing away a possible trick. You are much 
more likely to throw away three or four tricks by 
discarding your weak suit. If you have A K and 
others in one suit, J lo and small in another, it is 
certainly not your A K suit that the declarer is going 
to attack next, but your J lo suit. That you must 
guard. 

There are many cases, of course, in which the 
cards in the dummy will show what to keep. If 
dummy has the queen and others and you have the 
king and others, for instance, it is clear that you will 
have to put the king on the queen if it is led, so you 
do not need more than two of the suit. So also, if 
dummy holds ace queen and others, you may often 
blank the king, on the chance that dummy will 
finesse and let your lone king win. 

.Discarding is more matter of judgment and mem- 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 157 

ory than anything else. If you cannot keep count 
of the cards, you may discard a winner, if only a 
seven or eight, and keep a card that is a thirteener. 
There are occasions upon which you can afford 
to discard the best of a suit, to show your partner 
you have still the best of it left. Discarding the 
second-best emphatically denies the best. 



XXXVII 
SECOND HAND PLAY 

There are still many persons who will remind 
you of the old saw : " Second hand low ; third hand 
high," as if they were quoting some authority on 
the game. You may search through the eighty-odd 
standard works on the whist family of games with- 
out fear of finding any such maxim. It is simply a 
tradition, born of the brain of some bumblepuppy 
expert, and of as much value as its companion in 
error. " If you have neither ace, face nor trump, 
you are entitled to a new deal." 

One very simple rule governs the play of the sec- 
ond hand, and it applies to all forms of whist, 
bridge, or auction; having been first given to the 
world in my " Whist Manual " in 1890. This is it : 

" When a small card is led through you, and you 
hold any combination of high cards from which you 
would lead a high card, play one of your high cards 
second hand." 

This rule will be found to apply to almost every 
situation in auction. The player with dummy on 
his left needs no rule, because he can see what is 
behind him if he is led through; but the one with 

158 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 159 

dummy on his right must understand second hand 
play in order to protect himself. 

There are two mistakes that are continually made 
by the beginner and the self-taught player in second 
hand tactics, both of which errors are likely to prove 
expensive upon occasion, and either of which would 
be avoided if he kept before him the simple funda- 
mental rule for second hand play already quoted. 

The first mistake, and probably the more common, 
is the failure to distinguish between suits of three 
cards and those of four, when they are headed by 
two honors in sequence. Take, for example, queen 
and jack. If there is only one small card one of 
the honors must fall to the ace or king, so it should 
be put on or both may be lost. With two small 
cards this does not follow, as the ace and king may 
leave the queen and jack both good for tricks. 

Test this combination by the rule. If you had 
only three cards, queen jack and small, and were to 
lead that suit you would begin with a high card. 
Then play a high card second hand on a small card 
led through you. If you lead from four of the suit 
without the ten or nine, you do not lead the queen 
or jack, but the fourth best. Therefore play the 
small card second hand. The beginner is contin- 
ually covering second hand just because he has two 
honors in sequence, regardless of the number of the 
small cards with the queen and jack. 

" Cover an honor with an honor " is a maxim that 
one may hear quoted as frequently as any other at 



i6o AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

the card table. " What is the object? " asks the be- 
ginner, and the answer is usually about the same 
thing. " To make your opponents play two honors 
to win one trick." 

Under the impression that he has learned some- 
thing new and valuable in the line of second hand 
play the beginner forthwith proceeds to put aces 
on jacks, kings on tens and queens on both without 
any regard to the probable object of the lead or the 
possibilities of his partner's hand. The only thing 
that gives him pause is the cards in the dummy, and 
as a rule they are the very things that should not 
deter him from covering an honor with an honor. 

In auction very definite rules can be laid down for 
the second hand in the matter of covering honors 
led. These rules apply especially to the person who 
sits on the right of the declarer when dummy leads 
through him and also to the play of the declarer and 
his dummy when those hands are led through. The 
player with the dummy on his left should have a 
much easier task, as he knows exactly what is be- 
hind him, although he cannot tell what the dealer 
is leading from. In spite of this fact it is in this 
very position that most of the bad second hand play 
occurs, chiefly because the cards in the dummy 
frighten the beginner. 

An excellent rule in auction for the second hand 
is to cover an honor with an honor only when your 
honor is lost in any case and the play may make an 
inferior card good in your partner's hand. As a 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 161 

rule, good players do not give their opponents an 
opportunity to force the sacrifice of two honors to 
win one trick if they can help it, but occasionally the 
declarer is driven to lead suits that he would rather 
let alone, and if the second hand play is not sound, 
he may slip in a trick or two that he is not entitled 
to. 

It is well known to good players, for example, 
that it is useless to lead a queen to an ace- jack suit 
without the ten, because the queen is simply thrown 
away if it is led against good players. If the king 
is second hand it will cover the queen to make the 
ten good. If it is fourth hand it will win the queen. 
The proper play is to lead to the queen instead of to 
the ace. 

But the declarer cannot always arrange the lead to 
suit himself and he may be compelled to lead to the 
ace, in which case he must either lead the queen or 
block himself by leading a small card from queen 
and one. 

When such a lead is made the second hand must 
put the king on the queen, if he holds it, even if he 
sees from dummy's cards that his king is lost. 
Failure to cover in such cases is one of the common- 
est and most expensive errors in the game, and the 
importance of covering second hand in such cases is 
worth impressing upon the beginner at some length. 
Take this case : 

Z is the dealer. He bid no trumps, A said two 
diamonds and Y passed. 



i62 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 







H. 
C. 
D. 

S. 


6 5 2 
A J 8 7 6 

5 4 
Q 8 4 

Y 






H. 
C. 
D. 

S. 


K 74 
K 5 4 
K J 9 8 7 2 
2 


H. 
C. 
D. 

S. 


A B 

Z 

DEALER 

A J 83 
Q 9 
A 10 
AK6 5 3 


H. 
C. 
D. 
S. 


QIO 9 
10 3 2 
Q 6 3 
J 10 9 7 



The contract is two no trumps, although it is a 
safer spade. Z passed the first round of diamonds 
and then tried to drop the spades. Failing in this, 
he stopped that suit after winning the second round 
with the king, and led the queen of clubs. A 
looked at dummy and saw that his king was a goner 
if he put it on, so he passed. Dummy played small 
and the queen held the trick. The nine of clubs 
followed, the jack held and the ace killed the king 
and ten. Five club tricks, ace of spades and ace of 
hearts finished the business, giving Z four by cards 
and the game. 

This is a fair example of what one sees every day, 
the second hand considering his own cards and 
dummy and forgetting that he has a partner. If Z 
holds the ten of clubs with a small one, it does not 
make the slightest difference what A does with his 
king, as five club tricks must make. But if Z does 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 163 

not hold the ten it must be in B's hand, and if it is 
twice guarded A can make it good for a trick by 
putting his honor on the honor led, leaving dummy 
only two tricks in clubs instead of five. 

If the declarer has the ten without a small card 
B must have three to the nine, and that nine will 
stop the whole club suit if A will only cover the 
honor with the honor. Study the situation from 
any view of its possibilities and it must be evident 
that no matter how the cards lie, nothing can be 
lost by putting the king on the queen, even when 
you see the ace and jack on the table waiting to 
gobble you up. 

Had A covered the honor with an honor it would 
have forced the declarer to let him hold the trick 
and make his four diamonds, or to overtake with the 
ace and give B a trick in clubs or spades, or let A 
make his king of hearts, in each case letting in the 
diamonds. Z cannot make his contract, no matter 
what he does if A covers, instead of which A lets 
him go game on the hand. 

The cases in which an honor should be covered 
are usually those in which there is a possible four- 
chette between the two hands, as in the case just 
given, or when there is a fourchette in the second 
hand itself. A fourchette, it should be explained, 
is the combination of the cards immediately above 
and below the card led. If you hold queen and ten 
and a jack is led through you, you cover with the 
fourchette, because by playing your queen you leave 



i64 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

your ten just as good as the queen, but you trpnsfer 
the trick to your side instead of leaving it to the 
jack. If the opponents want it, they will pay two 
honors for one trick. 

An imperfect fourchette is the combination of the 
card above and the card next but one below the card 
led. The K lo is an imperfect fourchette over the 
Q and it pays to cover the queen when you have a 
small one with the ten, because the position is pre- 
cisely the same as covering the queen to make three 
to the lo good in your partner's hand. With three 
to a king it is not necessary to cover, and it is hardly 
likely that your king can be led through often enough 
to catch it. 

One should always cover with a perfect four- 
chette, no matter what is beyond him in the dummy. 
It forces the declarer to go higher if he wants the 
trick, and your cards are of equal value the moment 
the intermediate card is played. 

But there are many cases in which a player should 
not cover an honor with an honor, even when he has 
an imperfect fourchette. The beginner can distin- 
guish such situations only by considering the object 
of the lead and the cards that may be in the fourth 
hand. If the object is to take a finesse and you 
have the only card to finesse against it is lost. If 
there are two cards to finesse against and you have 
one give your partner a chance to make the other. 

The rules for covering smaller honors with the 
best of the suit, such as putting aces on jacks, and 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 165 

kings on tens, are a separate part of the rather com- 
phcated science of second hand play, the rule of cov- 
ering an honor with an honor not being supposed to 
refer to any cases but those in which the honor cov- 
ered and the one covering are in sequence. 

A very common error in second hand play is 
finessing against the partner. If a small card is led 
from dummy, who has not the king, and second hand 
holds ace queen and small, to play the queen is to 
finesse against your partner. Pass it, unless the ace 
is the only way to save the game. 



XXXVIII 

RETURN LEADS 

In the system of communication commonly used 
by the partners opposed to the declaration at auc- 
tion, the beginner is instructed to return his part- 
ner's suit with a card which is to be selected by one 
of the following rules : 

1. Holding the best card of your partner's suit, 
lead it, regardless of number. 

2. Holding both second and third best, lead one 
of them, so as to force the command. 

3. Holding only small cards of the suit, lead back 
the highest. 

But there is another rule which might be added to 
these, and which should act as a corrective to all of 
them, but which the text-books almost invariably 
overlook. This rule is always to beat dummy, re- 
gardless of the number of cards you hold. 

To this might be added still another rule, which 
does not readily lend itself to the mechanical game. 
Do not return your partner's suit at all if you see a 
chance to give him a possible finesse in another suit. 

The application of the last rule depends largely 
on the individual player's power of inference, be- 
166 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 167 

cause it is not every auction player that knows 
enough about reading cards to see when he can give 
his partner a finesse. If he has advanced so far in 
the game he may find many opportunities to take 
advantage of situations in which tricks can be picked 
up that would escape the average player. 

A very good maxim for the beginner to remember 
is to lead up to dummy's weak suits, and to let his 
partner lead through dummy's strong ones. It is 
often better to lead up to a weak suit in dummy 
than to return your partner's suit, especially if you 
know your partner can make his own suit any time. 
If there is a choice, lead up to an ace in preference 
to a king, and never lead up to a tenace, such as ace 
queen. If you lead up to a very strong suit in 
dummy, your partner is justified in inferring your 
lead is a singleton, and that you want to trump that 
suit. 

All the rules for the return of your partner's suit 
may be affected by the play on the first trick, and the 
cards that fall to it, or the leads made by the de- 
clarer. 

While it is true, in a general way, that you should 
return your partner's suit upon the same principle 
after the dealer has won a trick or two, as you 
would if he had not been in, it may develop that this 
would be very unwise. 

Suppose the first round of your partner's suit 
shows that it is hopelessly against him, while you 
have a suit that you can do something with, such as 



i68 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

king, queen, jack. You are quite justified in start- 
ing that. Your partner may have led a weak suit, 
perhaps three only, to avoid worse openings. He 
should then be willing to have you use your own 
judgment as to what to lead up to dummy. 

One very important rule for the adversaries of 
the declaration to remember is this : If the declarer 
has been in the lead and has not led trumps, there 
are only two reasons. He is trying to get dummy 
in to lead trumps for a finesse, or he has no inten- 
tion of leading trumps at all, but is trying to sep- 
arate them, as we shall see presently. 

If you judge that he is trying for a rufif in either 
hand, you should lead the trumps at once. When 
the declarer refuses to lead trumps himself, there 
must be some disadvantage in the trump lead, and 
the quicker you turn that disadvantage to your own 
advantage, by leading trumps, the better. It is 
often of vital importance to take out dummy's 
small trumps to protect your good cards in plain 
suits. You can force the declarer all you please. 
That weakens the strong hand; but do not let the 
weak hand ruff your good cards. 



XXXIX 

PLAYING THE DECLARATION 

The declarer needs no rules for leading certain 
cards from certain combinations, but he should be 
thoroughly familiar with the leads, so that he may 
recognize them and infer in which hand the high- 
est cards of the adverse suit lie. By watching the 
echos and return leads, he can usually place the 
distribution of opposing suits. 

The play with a trump suit differs from that in a 
no-trumper in several ways, and they should be 
studied separately. 

With a trump suit there are three things to con- 
sider : 

1. The advantage of taking out the adversaries' 
trumps so as to protect a good plain suit. 

2. The possibility of making some of the trumps 
in the weaker hand separately before leading 
trumps. 

3. The importance of getting rid of some losing 
cards before doing either. 

The contract is always for a certain number of 
tricks and unless the player can win those tricks the 
whole play goes for nothing unless it is a defensive 
169 



170 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

call, made to prevent a greater loss ; but in any case 
the secret of success lies in getting all there is out 
of the hands, so that one of the first things that must 
be mastered by any one who hopes to become an 
expert at the game in playing the declarer's position 
is to count up the tricks that he is sure of as soon 
as dummy's cards are laid down and to discover ex- 
actly where the extra tricks that are necessary to 
fulfil the contract or to win the game are to be 
picked up, if at all. That settled, the rest of the 
hand can be forgotten. 

This process is technically known as elimination, 
and once mastered it will save a person at least 
three tricks on the average in every rubber, to say 
nothing of the relief to the mental strain. It is so 
called because it eliminates from the attention every- 
thing that is not essential to the success of the dec- 
laration and leaves the mind free to concentrate 
upon the one suit in which tricks are to be won or 
lost. 

This process of elimination is particularly useful 
as a corrective for those who are in the habit of 
trying first one thing and then another, without any 
definite plan of action for the hand as a whole. It 
would be impossible to find a hand to which the 
process of elimination would not apply, and some- 
times it reduces the whole play to such simple terms 
that it might be said a child could get all there was 
in the cards. Take this as an example of elimina- 
tion in its simplest form : 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 171 

H, A Q J 4 

C. 7 5 

D. 9 8 3 
S. J 9 5 3 

Y 

H. K 10 8 6 H. 5 2 

ajlO AB C. 9863 

D. K J 10 6 5 D. 4 2 

S. 10 8 z S. A Q 7 6 4 

DEALER 

H. 9 7 3 

C. A K Q 4 2 

D. AQ 7 
S. K 2 

Z bid no trump and A led the ten of diamonds, 
which Z won with the queen. On looking over the 
two hands, he sees that there is nothing more in 
diamonds but that ace, which they will have to force 
out of his hand. That eliminates one suit. He 
cannot do anything in spades himself, but may make 
a trick if they lead spades. That eliminates an- 
other suit. As for the clubs, there are three tricks 
there, but they are good any time. If the clubs are 
split, the five tricks are good any time. 

There is therefore nothing left to think about but 
the hearts, and the whole attention can be concen- 
trated on getting the most he can out of that suit. 
If the king is with A, the hearts are good for three 
tricks. That is all there is to the hand, so Z leads a 
heart and finesses the jack. When that holds, he 
puts himself in with a club and finesses the queen 
of hearts. 



172 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

There being no more finesses he leads the ace, but 
fails to drop the king, B discarding the six and four 
of spades. Hoping to get a spade led up to him, Z 
leads the fourth heart from dummy, but A leads 
another diamond, which Z wins, having discarded 
his small diamond on the heart trick. 

Now he tries to drop the clubs and fails, so he 
gives B a club trick and when B tries to slip the 
queen of spades through him he promptly puts on 
the king, to make the dummy's jack good, and at the 
same time to prevent anything short of an ace get- 
ting into the lead with those diamonds. The fifth 
club gives Z four odd. 



XL 

PLAYING TRUMP DECLARATIONS 

Now let us look at the manner in which the de- 
clarer can eliminate the things that are not worth 
doing when the declaration is a trump suit. The 
deal is a good example of the first of our three ways 
of playing the hand. 







H. 
C. 
D. 

S. 


AK 6 5 
Q J 9 4 2 
8 

7 5 3 






H. 
C. 
D. 

S. 


10 8 7 4 
none 

KQJ 7 5 42 

8 2 


H. 
C. 
D. 

S. 


Y 

A B 

Z 

DEALER 

none 
AKIO 7 
A 10 9 6 
AKJ 6 4 


H. 
C. 
D. 

S. 


Q J932 
8 6 5 3 
3 
QIO 9 



Not wishing to let the opponents get started on 
the heart suit, Z bid three spades right off, and A led 
the king of diamonds. Z won it with the ace. 

With a solid club suit, and two tricks in hearts, Z 
173 



174 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

can eliminate everything but the one idea, to get 
out the trumps. If the queen does not fall in two 
leads, he can start on the clubs and force it out, as 
dummy will still have a trump left to stop the dia- 
monds. Even if there are four trumps to the queen 
in one hand, the most they can make is one trump 
and two diamonds, as they must lead the last trump 
to catch dummy's. 

Played in this way, Z should lead ace and king 
of spades, and on failing to drop the queen, start 
the clubs, making a little slam on the hand by dis- 
carding all his losing diamonds on the fifth club and 
ace king of hearts. 

In the actual game Z did not even make his con- 
tract. Instead of leading trumps at once, he tried 
to give dummy a ruff by returning a diamond, in- 
tending to take a finesse in the trump suit. B over- 
trumped dummy, and led a club as a forlorn hope, 
hearts being useless. A trumped the club and led 
another diamond, and they kept this up until their 
five trumps all made separately. 

Here is an example of not leading trumps, be- 
cause there is no good suit to defend. It was played 
in an important duplicate match. 

The player should always stop to consider 
whether or not there is anything to be gained by 
taking out the trumps, and should avoid as long 
as possible any finesse that can just as well be 
taken later in the play, after some more promising 
trick winner has been tried. 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 175 







H. 


10 8 4 










C. 


A 










D. 


A J 6 4 










S. 


9 7 5 3 2 






H. 


K 7 




Y 


H. 


9 5 


C. 


K 8 4 3 




A B 


C. 


Q JIO 5 


D. 


KIO 9 3 






D. 


7 5 2 


S. 


AQ 8 


H. 
C. 
D. 

S. 


Z 

DEALER 

AQJ 6 3 2 
9 7 62 
Q 8 

4 


S. 


K JIO 6 



Z started with a bid of two hearts, and at one 
table this held the contract. A led the three of dia- 
monds and Z won it with the queen. He then put 
dummy in with a club, and led the ten of trumps for 
the finesse, on the old theory that with such strength 
in trumps the best thing is to get them out, which 
does not apply to auction at all. 

A won the trump trick with the king and, in order 
to avoid guessing at a suit, led it right back, Z win- 
ning the nine of hearts with the jack. He then 
ruffed dummy with a club, and dummy led a spade, 
which B won with the ten. [The student will ob- 
serve that B holds a combination from which he 
would lead a high card, so he plays one second 
hand.] 

B led the club queen and then the jack and A 
overtook it and went back with a spade, so as to 
avoid leading diamonds. The heart, two clubs and 
a spade save the game. 



176 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

At another table this hand is correctly developed. 
Z wins the first diamond and returns the suit at 
once, so as to make both jack and ace and get a 
spade discard. There is nothing to lead trumps for. 
He trumped the fourth diamond, B discarding spade 
six. He then led a club, trumped a spade, ruffed 
dummy with a club, and kept that up until he had 
made all three of dummy's trumps and all his own 
small ones ; but A made the king of hearts, leaving 
Z a small slam. 

The third element in the declarer's play is getting 
rid of losing cards, a small sample of which is seen 
in the foregoing hand. This is one of the most im- 
portant elements in the game, but it applies only to 
trump declarations, the object being to get ready to 
ruff the suit in which you have nothing but small 
cards. Here is an interesting example of it. 







H. 


10 6 4 










C. 


9 8 2 










D. 


AQJ 9 2 










S. 


8 3 

Y 






H. 


QJ7 






H. 


A 8 5 3 


C. 


KQJ6 




A B 


C. 


10 7 5 


D. 


8 6 5 3 






D. 


10 7 4 


S. 


7 5 


H. 
C. 
D. 

S. 


z 

DEALER 

K 92 

A 4 3 

K 

A J10964 


S. 


KQ 2 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 177 

This hand was very badly played at one table. 
The bid was two spades, by Z, and A led the king 
of clubs. Z won it with the ace and led ace and 
jack of trumps, hoping to drop an honor. B won 
the second round and at once laid down the ace of 
hearts. Now if A can win a club trick with the 
queen, which his king lead shows he has, the game 
is saved, as B must make the king of trumps. 

A made two club tricks, but that ended it, as Z 
made all the diamonds, B's king of trumps winning 
the last trick of all, holding Z down to two by cards. 

At another table this hand was correctly played. 
When Z won the first club trick he saw at once that 
the thing to do was to get rid of those two losing 
clubs before touching the trumps, so he led the king 
of diamonds, overtook it with the ace and shed his 
two clubs on the queen and jack of diamonds. 
These leads made the nine good and B put on the 
queen of trumps, Z winning it with the ace. 

The jack of trumps was won by the king and B 
led a club, hoping he and A could make two heart 
tricks, Z trumped with the nine and led the four to 
dummy's eight of trumps, which was then high, and 
dummy made the fifth diamond, giving Z a heart dis- 
card. Then the heart lead made the king. Five by 
cards. 



XLI 

PLAYING NO-TRUMP DECLARATIONS 

In playing no-trumpers, there are three simple 
rules to remember, taking dummy as part of the cal- 
culation. 

1. Play for the suit that is longest between the 
two hands, and prefer the suit that has more in one 
hand than in the other. 

2. Always lead from the weak hand to the strong, 
and from the short hand to the long. 

3. Play the high cards first from the hand that is 
short in the suit. 

There are seldom any exceptions to the first rule. 
No matter how weak the suit, it is the length that 
counts, and the suit must be played some time. The 
sooner the better. Suppose dummy lays down six 
small clubs, and you have three indifferent clubs, but 
dummy has a sure reentry or two, while you have 
every other suit safe. Lead the clubs. The high 
ones must drop, and you may make three or four 
tricks with the small cards. If you play out the 
high cards in other suits first, the clubs are worth- 
less for any purpose. 

Leading from the weak hand to the strong is most 
178 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 179 

important. It is the foundation of all finessing. If 
you have to lead a suit in which you hold only the 
king in one hand, small cards in the other, always 
contrive to lead to the king, never from it. The 
last example given shows this play. 

High cards from the short hand is one of the most 
valuable maxims in the game. You hold A K 8 6 3 
in one hand, with the lead, Q 5 2 in the other. If 
you play the high cards from the long hand, ace and 
king, the queen blocks the small cards. Play the 
small card from the ace king hand, because it is the 
long hand, and play the queen from the short hand. 

Here is a hand which I consider one of the best 
examples I have ever seen of combining all these 
plays on the part of the declarer in one deal : It 
came up in a large duplicate game in New York. 







H. 
C. 
D. 
S. 


Q J 7 

8 
Q 9 7 5 4 

J 6 5 3 






H. 
C. 
D. 
S. 


10 5 

KQ 7 6 3 
8 6 2 
10 9 2 


H. 
C. 

D. 

S. 


Y 

A B 

Z 
DEALER 

9 64 
A 9 4 
AK 3 
AQ 8 4 


H. 
C. 
D. 
S. 


AK 8 3 2 
J 10 5 2 
J 10 
K 7 



Z bids no trumps. A starts with his fourth-best 
club, as one does not lead from only two honors 



i8o AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

against a no-trumper. B plays the ten, and Z wins 
with the ace. 

Counting up the combined hands, Z finds he has 
eight cards in two suits, but there are more in one 
hand in diamonds, so he selects that suit. He also 
plays the high cards first from the short hand, lead- 
ing ace and king, so that the hand that is longer in 
the suit shall have a clear field. 

On the third diamond A lets go his smallest club, 
showing he led from five only, and B knows, by the 
eleven rule, that Z has only one club higher than the 
six, which may be an honor. B discarded the five 
of clubs. On the fourth diamond he started a re- 
verse discard with the heart eight; but as Z dis- 
carded the heart four, it was not necessary to com- 
plete it, as A could mark B with the trey and deuce 
if Z did not hold those cards. This reverse en- 
couraged A to keep his spades and discard a heart. 

On the fifth diamond, B gave up the jack of clubs, 
keeping the deuce. Z discarded another heart and 
A let go a club, as he must keep a heart to lead and 
protect the only suit he was now afraid of, the 
spades. 

Dummy's next lead was a small spade. This 
avoids the error we shall come to presently, leading 
a jack to the ace and queen when neither hand has 
the ten, a mistake that is continually made by many 
who consider themselves first-class players. Z is 
leading now from the weak hand to the strong, in 
accord with our second rule. 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 181 

B played small. Z must finesse the queen, or he 
cannot possibly go game. The ace dropped the 
king. Now dummy's jack is good for the third 
spade trick and the game. Had dummy led the 
spade jack, B would have put on the king and estab- 
lished both ten and nine for A, saving the game 
against any play. 



XLII 

FINESSING BY THE DECLARER 

Guided by the simple principle that the adver- 
saries of the declarer never finesse, because that 
would be finessing against their own partners in- 
stead of against an opponent, we come naturally to 
the conclusion that the only legitimate finessing is 
done by the declarer himself. As we shall see pres- 
ently, most of his finessing is forced. 

Any person of average intelligence can lay down 
two exposed hands, such as those of the declarer 
and his dummy and count up the sure tricks that can 
be won against any play, once the declarer's side 
gets into the lead. That so few players take the 
trouble to make this simple addition is the secret of 
most of their shortcomings at the card table. 

The number of times in which these sure tricks 
equal the number required to carry out the contract 
or win the game is hardly worth considering. 

Nine times out of ten it will be found that if there 
are any tricks to be won that are not in plain sight, 
they are to be made by judicious finessing and that 
the declarer is practically forced to make these 
finesses if he wants to get anything like the full 
value out of the hands he plays. 

i83 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 183 

A successful finesse depends upon the observa- 
tion of two cardinal principles. Getting the right 
hand into the lead and always leading from the weak 
hand to the strong. When a finesse must be taken 
in order to get the required number of tricks, ar- 
rangements must be made for these two things, and 
they have to be made early in the hand. 

Here is an example of a no-trumper which com- 
bines the elements of counting up the sure tricks 
and seeing that the declarer is forced to try two 
finesses if he wants to go game : 

H. 7 3 

C. K J 8 7 4 

D. 7 5 4 3 

S. Q 7 

Y 

H. Q JIO 9 5 H. 6 4 

C. Q 5 3 A B C. 10 2 

D. J 10 D. K 9 8 2 
S. K 6 2 z S. A 10 9 8 4 

DEALER 

H. A K 8 2 

C. A 9 6 

D. A Q 6 
S. J 5 3 

Z dealt and bid no trumps, which all passed. A 
led the queen of hearts, which Z won with the ace, 
concealing the king. 

If we count up the sure tricks between the two 
hands, they are one more heart, two clubs and the 
ace of diamonds. That is five in all, or two less 



iB4 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

than the contract, four short of the game. Where 
are the extra tricks to come from? 

There is nothing more possible in hearts, so we 
can dismiss that from consideration. It is impos- 
sible to make a trick in spades, unless the adversa- 
ries give it to you, so that suit may be disregarded. 

There remain two chances. The first is that the 
two high clubs, queen and ten, may fall in two leads, 
but if one of them does not fall on the first lead the 
other is impossible. If it does not fall, the finesse 
against the queen is forced. 

The student should observe that it is impossible 
to finesse a suit that is distributed like the clubs by 
leading the jack to the ace. That is to throw it 
away. The only way to play such combinations is 
to take the finesse in the hand that has the two hon- 
ors. It is our rule of leading from the weak hand 
to the strong, and playing the high cards from the 
short hand first. 

The other chance for an extra trick is a successful 
finesse in diamonds, for which the lead must be from 
dummy. Unless both these chances come off, game 
on the hand is impossible. Unless the whole five 
tricks in clubs can be made, the finesse in diamonds 
is unnecessary except as a single trick saved from 
the wreck of a promising hand. 

The first thing then is to try the club suit. If 
neither adversary plays the ten or queen on the first 
round, the finesse on the second round is forced. Z 
therefore leads the ace, follows with a small club 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 185 

and finesses the jack. This allows him to make all 
five of dummy's clubs, but he is still two tricks shy 
of game, and nothing in sight but two tricks in dia- 
monds. 

With both hearts and spades still stopped he can 
afford to risk the finesse at once. When that holds, 
he is game. 

An important factor in the forced finesse, the 
finesse that must be taken sooner or later, is the 
element of time. If some finesses are not taken at 
the right moment they fail completely of their ob- 
ject. A common case is finessing a suit before get- 
ting out the trumps, when it might just as well be 
done afterward. This is always dangerous if the 
suit is long in either hand. 

There are -two cases about which the beginner 
and many a supposedly good player needs to be 
repeatedly warned. These are finesses that must 
lose. 

One of these is leading a queen or a jack to an 
ace, or ace jack, or ace queen, without the ten. Un- 
less there are nine cards between the two hands this 
is a sure loser. If the king is on the left of the 
queen, it will cover, to make the ten good. If it is 
on the other side the queen is thrown away. The 
play in all such cases is to lead from the ace to the 
queen. The only chance for both ace and queen to 
make is that the king is on the left of the ace. 

The mistake of leading a ten to the ace and jack, 
or a jack to the ace and ten, has already been 



i86 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

pointed out. Lead small to the ace hand and finesse 
the jack or ten, whichever it is. 

When the ace jack ten are all in the same hand, 
the declarer must arrange to lead the suit twice from 
the weak hand to the strong, finessing the ten the 
first time if no honor is played second hand, and 
finessing again on the second round. 

This position is very common and should be care- 
fully studied. Take this hand as an example, lay- 
ing out the cards. 







H. 


Q 6 










C. 


A 5 43 










D. 


6 4 2 










S. 


A J 4 2 

Y 






H. 


K 10 8 7 3 






H. 


J 95 


C. 


K 7 6 




A B 


C. 


Q 98 


D. 


Q 8 






D. 


K 9 5 


S. 


8 7 3 


H. 
C. 
D. 

S. 


Z 

DEALER 
A 42 

J 10 2 
A JIO 7 3 
QIO 


S. 


K 9 6 5 



Z bid no trump; a trifle forward, but that is the 
way they bid them these days. It is not a diamond 
bid, as there are neither two sure tricks nor outside 
tricks enough to stop up the holes. 

A led the seven of hearts. With a singly guarded 
queen in one hand, ace in the other, without the ten, 
the best chance for two tricks is to put the queen 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 187 

right on; but if the ten is with the ace, never play 
the queen second hand. The queen held, and B 
played his second-best, the nine, showing one higher 
card, which A easily reads as the jack. 

The only play in this hand is the ace- jack-ten 
finesse in diamonds. Nothing in hearts, nothing in 
clubs. The spades will make any time, if that 
finesse lies right. The thing is to get those two 
finesses in diamonds while dummy is sure to get in 
again, and the other suits are protected. 

The queen wins the ten of diamonds, and A leads 
the three of hearts to his partner's jack, which Z 
allows to win, holding up the command long enough 
to exhaust B, as that is the hand Z is about to risk 
getting in. Dummy discards a club on the third 
heart. 

Now Y and Z have between them the A Q J 10 
of spades, so Z leads the queen, and passes it up. B 
wins it. B's play is now instructive. If his partner 
can get in on anything it is the king of clubs, so B 
plays the queen, in order that A may not have to sac- 
rifice his king to the ace. This is called the Des- 
chapelles coup. Y wins the queen with the ace, as 
all depends on the diamond finesse, and leads an- 
other diamond. 

The finesse holds and Y gets two more club dis- 
cards. Then he overtakes the ten of spades with the 
jack and makes the ace. Three odd and the game. 

It is often possible to establish a suit that has a 
good reentry by ruffing the suit out, when there is 



i88 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

a trump. Suppose one hand has king and small, the 
other hand ace to five. If the short hand has 
trumps to spare, and the long hand can get in and 
lead the suit a third or even a fourth time, trumping 
it until the last high card out against it is gone, the 
dregs of the suit may be made. Opportunities for 
this are common. 



XLIII 
THE DECLARER'S REENTRIES 

This is a complicated subject, but a few hints 
may be useful to the beginner. 

The great value of reentry cards is to bring in the 
long suit after it has been established by forcing out 
the high cards held by the adversaries, therefore re- 
entry cards are most valuable in the hand that has 
the long suit, and the player must foresee this from 
the start, and preserve them. Reentries may also 
be useful for getting the lead, so as to go on with the 
trumps. 

Here is a very common situation. The declara- 
tion is a spade, on the AJi0 94;A62of hearts ; 
K 10 5 of clubs, two small diamonds. Dummy has 
ace of clubs and small mies, Q J and small hearts, 
K 4 3 2 in diamonds; K 2 in trumps. Club led. 
The declarer let the club come up to him, and the 
jack forced his king. 

A small trump to dummy, a trump returned and 
the finesse of the ten went to the queen. Another 
club, queen led, and dummy has to play the ace, or 
third hand gets in a trump next round. Now 
dummy has to open a red suit at a great disad- 
189 



igo AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 

vantage in order to continue the trumps, and fails 
to go game. 

Dummy should have played the ace of clubs on 
the first trick, keeping the king in the declarer's 
hand, as a reentry to continue the trumps. This 
would have won the game. 

It often happens that there is a chance to make a 
reentry in one hand by playing high cards in the 
other, but such cases are too delicate for any but 
the expert to manage. For example : The lead is a 
small club, at no trumps. Q J only in the dummy; 
A K small in the declarer's hand. To make the 
queen a reentry card for dummy's long weak suit, 
the declarer must overtake the jack with the king. 

When there is a long suit in one hand with no 
possible reentry outside, the proper play is to 
" duck " the first round. Suppose dummy lays 
down six clubs to the ace king, only two small in 
the other hand. It is impossible to catch the Q J 
10 9 and another in two leads, no matter where they 
are, so the play is to lead a club and duck it, no mat- 
ter what the second hand plays or what wins it. 
Then, if the clubs do not all drop on the second and 
third round, nothing could have been done with the 
suit. 

All these are simply hints at certain principles of 
play, given with the idea of encouraging the student 
to watch more carefully for the many cases in which 
he will see these principles departed from and will 
be able to put his finger on the weak spots in a 



AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 191 

player's game, at the same time constantly striving 
to improve his own. 

Sometimes, no matter what you do, it is wrong. 
No finesse will hold; all the trumps are bunched 
against you in one hand ; you cannot clear your long 
suit even in four leads; but you may rest assured 
that if your play is based on sound principles, the 
finest player in the world could not have done any 
better with the hand than you did. 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

Revised to September, ip20. 

Reprinted by permission of The Whist Club of 
New York 

(Copyright, ip2o) 



FOREWORD 

At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the Whist 
Club the following laws applicable to Auction were 
approved and adopted, to become effective September 
1st, 1920. 

The Whist Club 
New York, July, 1920. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface 197 

Changes in the Laws 198 

The 1920 Laws of Auction 

How Played 201 

Cards 201 

Rank of Cards 201 

Rank of Suits 201 

Lead. 201 

Trick 202 

Following Suit 202 

Winning the Trick 202 

Odd Tricks 202 

Trick Values 202 

Hand 203 

Game 203 

Rubber. 203 

Honors 203 

Honor Values 204 

Slams 204 

Scoring 204 

Forming Tables 205 

Entry 205 

Members Leaving Table 205 

Players Leaving Table 206 

Drawing for Partners and Deal 206 

Cutting Out 207 

The Shuffle 207 

The Cut. 207 

The Deal 208 

New Deal (Compulsory) 208 

New Deal (Optional) 209 

The Declaration 209 

19s 



196 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Bid Defined 209 

Higher Bid Defined 210 

Insufficient Bid 210 

Bid Out of Turn Defined 211 

Bid Out of Turn Penalized 211 

Double Defined 211 

Redouble Defined 211 

Improper Doubles and Redoubles 212 

Pass Defined 212 

Pass Out of Turn Defined i . 212 

Pass Out of Turn Penalized 213 

Illegitimate Declarations 213 

Declaring and Changing. 213 

Repeated Errors 214 

Cards Exposed During Declaration 214 

Contract and Declarer 214 

The Play 215 

Dummy • 215 

Dummy's Rights (Unconditional) • 215 

Dummy's Rights (Conditional) 216 

Dummy Penalized 216 

Exposed Cards. 217 

Calling Exposed Cards 217 

Play of Declarer and Dummy 218 

Leads Out of Turn and Cards Played in Error . 218 

Renounce 219 

Revoke Definitions 220 

Revoke Penalty 220 

Revoke Avoided 221 

Claiming and Conceding Tricks 2.22 

Penalties and Consultation 22'^^ 

Information 22,^^ 

New Cards 224 

The Etiquette of Auction 225 



PREFACE 

Auction was played in the United States before any 
Code of Laws was drafted for the game. Some of the 
English Clubs had altered the Laws of Bridge to meet 
the more obvious requirements of the new game; but, 
as the Laws of Bridge were merely the Whist Code 
revised, the so-called Laws of Auction were nothing 
more than the English Laws of Whist twice altered 
with as little labor as possible to fit another game. This 
was only natural in view of the sudden transfer of 
popular allegiance, first from Whist to Bridge, and 
next from Bridge to Auction. 

When the game obtained a firm foothold in this 
country. The Whist Club drafted a code which covered 
a number of subjects not mentioned in the English 
revision of the Bridge Laws, but which followed its 
general form. 

After that, every year or two, The Whist Club issued 
a revision of its Code. Each was a material improve- 
ment upon its predecessor, but there was so much to 
be done in the line of re-making the game that less 
attention was paid to the order and wording of the 
Laws than otherwise would have been the case. 

After many experiments, a system of count was 
adoptetd in the Code of 1915 which seemed to meet 
thoroughly the popular demand. The desire for more 
changes in the game suddenly ceased, and the mail of 
the Card Committee of The Whist Club no longer 
brought hundreds of proposed alterations. 

In January, 1917, The Whist Club issued a code 
which did not materially alter the provisions of the 
Code of 1915, but in which the Committee for the first 
time seriously attempted to clarify some laws whose 
wording, due possibly to repeated amendment and 
alteration, seemed obscure. 

197 



198 PREFACE 

Even now there does not seem to be a desire for 
anything^ in the nature of drastic revision but certain 
writers, with more or less justification, have criticised 
the arrangement of the present laws and characterized 
as ambiguous the wording of some of them. The 
general public has apparently been satisfied with the 
character of the game, but has complained that the 
average player has difficulty in finding the law ap- 
plicable to a case arising during the play. 

It has seemed advisable, therefore, to entirely redraft 
the laws and prepare, for the first time, a Code written 
for the game of Auction. The changes of substance 
are not many nor, with one or two exceptions, of great 
importance, but there has been an earnest effort to 
make the wording as clear as possible and the arrange- 
ment such as to simplify the finding of any law which 
may be desired. This, with complete indexing, it is 
believed will meet the objections against the wording 
and form of the present code. 



CHANGES IN THE LAWS 

The change made by the Code of 1920 which will 
surely attract the most attention is the reduction of 
the revoke penalty from 100 points to 50, or from 
3 tricks to 2, as the case may be. 

This may work unfairly in the isolated instance in 
which the revoke benefits its maker, but as in about 
ninety-nine cases out of one hundred the revoke does 
not do this, the new penalty more nearly fits the offence 
in the vast majority of cases. 

In reducing this penalty, the possibility of an inten- 
tional revoke is not even contemplated; the laws do 
not provide a penalty for any form of crooked play. 
They are not drafted with the idea of defeating the 
tactics of the card sharp. The character of the game 
makes this impossible, as the bidding offers a most 
fertile field for the clever crook to give his partner 



PREFACE 199 

invaluable information. "One Spade" and "a Spade" 
could be given different meanings and other forms of 
expression could be used to convey unfair information. 

Should a player intentionally revoke or practice other 
unfair methods, ostracism will be more effective than 
any penalty the Laws could prescribe. 

The question of who wins the rubber when the side 
that wins two games has the lower score, has for years 
been a subject of Auction controversy. Originally the 
winner of two games was held to be the winner in the 
rubber, no matter how many points the other side 
might be in the lead. This created the expression 
"winning a losing rubber". In 1915 this was changed, 
but the alteration met with opposition in certain quar- 
ters and The Whist Club in 1917 returned to the old 
order of things. Now the folly of attempting to 
legislate an actual loss into a theoretical victory is 
realized and the original change made by The Whist 
Club being approved, it is reinstated so that once again 
the rubber winners will be the partners who come out 
ahead, regardless of which side happens to capture 
two games. 

The proposal that the penalty for a defeated contract 
be increased with the idea of curbing reckless bidding 
received due consideration but met with little favor, 
as free bidding is one of the most attractive features 
of the game. 

"Contract Auction," which provides that a player be 
permitted to score in his trick-score only the amount 
of his bid, the excess, if any, to be entered in his 
honor-score, was considered at the time of the adoption 
of the 1917 Code. This year it was again proposed and 
was again rejected for the same reason that influenced 
the Committee three years ago. Auction, as it stands, 
gives the expert sufficient advantage; "Contract Auc- 
tion" would almost legislate the poor bidder out of the 
game. Like the Nullo, it might make Auction more 
attractive for the few, but must do §Q at the expense of 
the many. 



200 PREFACE 

The Committee in presenting the Code of 1920, feels 
it should urge the Auction playing public to rigidly 
observe all laws and enforce all penalties. 

It is obvious there must be penalties; to enforce 
some, and to disregard others creates misunderstand- 
ings and hard feelings. Players are all very ready to 
claim the extremely severe penalty for a revoke, which 
is always a careless and in most cases a harmless 
offence, and yet many hesitate to enforce the penalty 
allowed for looking at a trick that has been quitted. 
The latter offence gives the offender improper infor- 
mation by unfair means, and the penalty imposed for 
it is far from being too severe. 

The picking up and examining of cards during the 
deal, while by no means so serious an offence as 
looking at the quitted trick, is a most annoying habit 
and is apt to result in exposed cards and other unfor- 
tunate occurrences. 

Touching one card in Dummy and then playing 
another is an annoyance too often condoned. 

The Auction players of the country are therefore 
urged to observe the provisions of all laws, and to 
exact all penalties, it being especially desirable that 
the penalties provided in Laws 26(d), 53 and 6i{e) 
be rigidly enforced, 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

HOW PLAYED 

1. The game of Auction is played by four players, 
two against two playing as partners. Two partners 
constitute a side. 

CARDS 

2. Two packs^ of cards having different backs are 
used. A correct pack contains four suits of thirteen 
cards each; one card of each denomination to a suit. 
A pack becomes imperfect when one or more cards 
are torn, soiled or otherwise so marked that they may 
be identified from their backs. 

RANK OF CARDS 

3. In the play, Ace is high, then King, Queen, Jack, 
Ten, etc. ; Deuce being lowest. In drawing cards, Ace 
is low, then Deuce, Trey, etc. ; King being highest. 

RANK OF SUITS 

4. In the declaration,^ Spades are high. Hearts next, 
Diamonds next and Clubs lowest. In drawing cards, 
as between cards of equal denomination, Spades are 
low, Hearts next, Diamonds next, and Clubs highest. 

LEAD 

5. The player at the left of Declarer leads^ to the 
first trick* and thereafter the winner of each trick 
leads to the next. 



* The game may be played with one pack, legal provisions requiring 
two packs being suspended by consent. 

2 In the declaration, No Trump ranks above any suit. 
^ A player leads or plays by placing one of his cards face upward 
near the center of the table. 

* The first lead of a hand, when legally made, is called the initial 
lead. 

201 



202 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

TRICK 

6. After the lead, each player in his turn to the left 
plays^ a card. A trick consists of four cards thus 
played. 

FOLLOWING SUIT 

7. A player must follow suit, i. e., must play a card 
of the suit led if he have one. When leading, or when 
void of the suit led, he may play any card he holds.^ 

WINNING THE TRICK 

8. A trick is won for his side by the player who, 
(o) if the trick does not contain a trump,^ plays the 
highest card of the suit led; or who (6) plays the 
highest trump, if the trick contain one or more trumps. 
A trick once turned and quitted* may not be looked 
af^ until the end of the hand. 

ODD TRICKS 

9. Odd tricks are those won by Declarer in excess 
of six tricks. If Declarer fulfil his contract, his side 
counts the value of all odd tricks; otherwise nothing 
is counted in the trick score. 

TRICK VALUES 

10. Odd tricks count in the trick score as follows : 
With Clubs trumps, each counts 6 points. 
With Diamonds " " " 7 

With Hearts " " " 8 

With Spades " " " 9 

With No Trump " " " 10 

Doubling doubles the above values; redoubling 
multiplies them by four. 

^ A player leads or plays by placing one of his cards face upward 
near the center of the table. 

2 To "refuse" is to fail to follow suit. To "renounce" (Law 55) 
is to refuse when able to follow. See Law 56 for "revoke." 

3 As a result of the bidding (Law 30), the hand may be played 
without a trump (t. e., "No Trump") or with one of the four suits 
as the trump. Any trump is a winner as against any card of a plain 
(non-trump) suit. 

* Footnote to Law 56 (a) defines "quitted." 
" Law 61 (e) prescribes penalty. 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 203 

HAND 

11. A hand^ begins with the cut^ and ends when the 
last card is played to the thirteenth trick. 

GAME 

12. A game is won when one side has a trick score 
of thirty (30) or more points. A game may be com- 
pleted in one hand or more; each hand is played out^ 
whether or not during it the game be won. 

RUBBER 

13. (a) A rubber begins with drawing for partners 
(Law 22) or cutting out (Law 23) and is completed 
when one side has won two games. The side which 
has won two games adds a bonus of 250 points to its 
honor-score. The side having the greater number of 
total points* wins the rubber.^ 

(b) When a rubber is started with the agreement 
that the play shall terminate (i. e., no new hand shall 
commence) after a specified time, and the rubber is 
unfinished at that hour, the score is made up as it 
stands, 125 being added to the honor-score of the 
winners of a game. A hand if started must be played 
out. 

(c) If a rubber be started without any agreement 
as to its termination, and before its conclusion one 
player leave; or if, after such agreement, a player 
leave before the appointed hour without appointing an 
acceptable substitute (Law 21-a) ; the opponents have 
the right to consult and decide whether the score be 
canceled or counted as in (&). 

HONORS 

14. The Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of the 
trump suit are the honors unless the declaration be 

1 "Hand" is also used to mean the cards held by a player. When 
so used the sense is obvious. Also used to designate players, as in 
"second hand," "third hand," etc, 

2 See Law 25. 

^ All points won are counted whether or not they are needed to 
make game. 
*See Law 17. 
" Thus a side may win two games and still lose the rubber. 



204 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

No Trump, in which case the four Aces are the honors. 
Honors count in the honor-score of the side which 
received them in the deal. 

HONOR VALUES 

15. Honor values are based on trick values (Law 
10). They are not increased by doubling (Law 35) 
or redoubling (Law 36). 

3 honors^ between partners have value of 2 tricks. 

4 honors between partners have value of 4 tricks. 

4 honors held by one partner have value of 8 tricks. 

5 honors, held 3 by one and 2 by other partner, have 

value of 5 tricks. 
5 honors, held 4 by one and 1 by other partner, have 

value of 9 tricks. 
5 honors held by one partner have value of 10 tricks. 

WHEN THERE IS NO TRUMP 

3 aces held between partners count 30 points. 

4 " " " " " 40 

4 " held by one partner count 100 ** 

SLAMS 

16. A side winning all thirteen tricks^ scores 100 
points for Slam.^ A side winning twelve tricks scores' 
50 points for Little Slam.* Slam points are added to 
the honor-score.^ 

SCORING 

17. Each side has a trick-score, which includes only 
points won by odd tricks; and an honor-score for all 
other points, including bonuses for honors, penalties, 
slams and undertricks. 

At the end of the rubber, the total points of a side 

^ "Simple honors" means 3 honors, 

2 Without counting tricks received as penalty for a revoke. 
2 Also called Grand Slam. 

* When Declarer's contract is seven and he wins six odd, he counts 
50 for Little Slam although his contract fail. 

^ Slam or Little Slam may be scored by either side. 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 205 

are obtained by adding together its trick-score and 
honor-score.^ Subtracting the smaller total from the 
greater, gives the net points by which the rubber is 
won and lost.^ 

A proved error in the honor-score may be corrected 
at any time before the score of the rubber has been 
made up and agreed upon. 

A proved error in the trick-score may be corrected 
at any time before the next declaration begins (Law 
29) or, if the error occur in the final hand of the 
rubber, before the score has been made up and agreed 
upon. 

FORMING TABLES 

18. A table consists of four, five or six members, 
of whom four are players. A complete table consists 
of six members. In forming a table, candidates who 
have not played rank first and in the order in which 
they entered the room. Candidates who have played 
but are not members of an existing table rank next. 
Candidates of equal standing decide priority by draw- 
ing^ cards. Low wins. 

ENTRY 

19. Before the beginning of a rubber* a candidate 
may enter any incomplete table by announcing his 
desire to do so and such announcements in the order 
made entitle candidates to places as vacancies occur. 

In case there are more candidates than there are 
vacancies, th.e provisions of Law 18 apply. 

MEMBERS LEAVING TABLE 

20. If a member leave a table, he forfeits all his 
rights at said table unless he leave to make up a table 
which cannot be formed without him and, when leav- 
ing, announce his intention of returning when his 

^ The 250 points bonus for winning two games (Law 13-a) is in- 
cluded. 

2 Law 13 (o) explains who wins a rubber. 

* Method of drawing is described in Law 22. 

* Law 13 (o) stipulates that the rubber begins when any player 
draws either for partners or cutting out. 



2o6 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

place at the new table can be filled. In such case, if 
he return, he has prior rights over any who have joined 
the table in his absence and may displace one of them. 
When a member^ leaves a table to make up a new table 
which cannot be formed without him, and does not 
claim the right to retain his membership in the old 
table, he shall be the last to draw out of the new table. 

PLAYERS LEAVING TABLES 

21. (a) A player leaving a table may, with the 
consent of the other three players, appoint a substitute 
to play in his absence; such appointment becomes void 
upon return of said player or upon conclusion of the 
rubber. In any case, the substitute when released 
regains all his previous rights. 

(b) A player who withdraws from a table of four 
at the end of a rubber; or who, after availing himself 
of the privileges of paragraph (a) fails to return 
before the end of the rubber, thus breaking up the 
table; cannot claim entry elsewhere as against the 
other three players from that table. 

DRAWING FOR PARTNERS AND DEAL 

22. A table having been formed, the members draw^ 
cards. He who draws lowest becomes the dealer of 
the first deael and has choice of packs and seats.^ He 
who draws second lowest is Dealer's partner and sits 
opposite him. The third lowest has choice of the two 
remaining seats; fourth lowest takes the remaining 
one. The members, if any, who draw higher than 
fourth lowest, remain members of the table but do not 
play in the current rubber. 

In all cases when drawing cards, should any one 
show two or more cards, he must draw again. 



^ Should two members make up a new table, both rank ahead of 
the others. 

^ One pack is spread face downward on the table and each member 
draws one card. All draw from the same pack. 

^ A player may consult his partner before choosing. 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 207 

A player having made choice of packs or seats must 
abide by his decision. 

CUTTING OUT 

23. If at the end of a rubber a table consists of five 
or six members, the players who have played the 
greatest number of consecutive rubbers are the first 
to lose their places as players (but do not lose their 
standing as members). The draw (Law 22) decides 
between claimants of equal standing; low wins. 

THE SHUFFLE 

24. After drawing for partners, second hand^ shuffles 
the pack which Dealer has chosen (Law 22) and third 
hand^ shuffles the still pack.^ Thereafter, at the be- 
ginning of each deal, third hand shuffles the still pack.* 
After being shuffled, the still pack is placed between 
second and third hands where it remains until the 
next deal. 

During the shuffle, the pack must not be held below 
the table nor so that the face of any card may be seen. 

Dealer has the right to shuffle last, but must not 
shuffle after the cut except as in 25 (b). 

The deal must not proceed until the pack has been 
shuffled as herein provided. 

THE CUT 

25. (a) Dealer, immediately before the deal, places 
the pack before his right hand opponent who lifts off 
the top portion and places it beside the bottom portion, 
preferably toward Dealer who then places the bottom 
portion on top. This constitutes the cut.* 

(b) If the cut leave fewer than four cards in the 
top or bottom portion ; or if during it any card be faced 
or displaced ; or there be any doubt as to where the pack 

^ The player on Dealer's left. 

^ Third hand is Dealer's partner. 

3 The "still pack" is the one not being dealt, or used in the play 
of the hand. 

* A player may not cut or shuffle for partner if either opponent 
object. 



2o8 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

was divided; or any player shuffle after the cut; there 
must be a new shuffle and a new cut.^ 

THE DEAL 

26. (o)The deal begins after the cut and ends when 
the last card has been placed in proper order in front 
of Dealer. 

(b) After the first deal, players deal in turn to the 
left. A player may not deal for his partner if either 
opponent object. 

(c) Dealer gives the first card to the player on his 
left and so on until air fifty-two cards are dealt, the 
last one to Dealer. 

(d) A player may not look at any of his cards 
during the deal. Penalty, 25 points in the adverse 
ho^'^r-score. 

NEW DEAL (Compulsory) 

27. There must be a new deal:^ 

(a) If the cards be not dealt into four distinct 
packets, in accordance with Law 26(c). 

(b) If, during the deal, any card be found faced in 
the pack or be exposed on, above or below the table. 

(c) If it be discovered during the hand that more 
than thirteen cards were dealt to any player. 

(d) If, during the hand, one player hold more than 
the proper number of cards and another less. 

(e) If, during the hand the pack be proved incorrect 
(Law 2). The pack is not incorrect on account of a 
missing card or cards if it or they be found in the 
still pack, among the quitted tricks, below the table, 
or in any other place which makes it possible that such 
card or cards were part of the pack during the deal. 
Any player may search anywhere for missing cards, 
including the still pack and the quitted tricks (face 
downward). See also Law 56 (^). 

^ A player may not cut or shufHe for partner if either opponent 
object. 

^ Always by the same dealer, and with the same pack except (.e) 
when a missing card is not found. See Law 62 regarding new cards. 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 209 

NEW DEAL (Optional)' 

28. During the deal any player who has not looked 
at any of his cards may demand a new deal:^ 

(/) If the deal be out of turn, 
(^)If the pack be imperfect (Law 2), 
A new deal may be demanded by either of Dealer's 
opponents^ who has not looked at any of his cards: 
(h) If Dealer omit the cut. 
(i) If Dealer deal with wrong pack. 
If any player, after looking at a card, make a claim 
under this law; or, if no claim be made; the deal stands 
as regular, and the player to the left deals next. In 
case of a deal with the wrong pack (i), the next dealer 
may choose either pack for the remainder of the 
rubber. 

THE DECLARATION 

29. The declaration* begins when the deal ends and 
ends when all four players pass^ (Law 38) their first 
opportunity to declare^ or, after a bid, (Law 30) when 
three players in succession have legally passed. The 
first legal act of the declaration is a bid or pass by the 
dealer. Thereafter each player in his turn to the left 
must pass, bid if no bid has been made previously, 
make a higher bid^ if a bid has been made previously, 
double the last bid made by an opponent or redouble 
an opponent's double provided no bid has intervened. 

BID DEFINED 

30. A bid is made by specifying any number from 
one (i) to seven (7) inclusive, together with the name 
of a suit or No Trump; thereby offering to contract 

^ A new deal may also be demanded under Laws 37 id), 37 (e) and 
54 it). 

^ By the same dealer except as in (/), and with the same pack ex- 
cept as in ig) and (i). 

^ "Opponent" is always used in the general sense; 
"Adversary" is always an opponent of Declarer. 

* Declaration also means either bid, double, pass, or redouble. 
" The playe'* next in turn then deals with his own pack. 

* To declare means to bid, double, pass or redouble. 
'Law 31 defines "higher bid." 



2IO THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

that with such suit as trump or with No Trump, the 
bidder will win at least the specified number of odd 
tricks. 

HIGHER BID DEFINED 

31. To make a "higher bid" a player must (a) name 
a greater number^ of odd tricks in a suit or No Trump 
than the number named in the last previous bid, or 
(b) name at least an equal number of odd tricks in a 
suit of higher rank (Law 4) than the suit named in 
the previous bid. 

INSUFFICIENT BID 

32. A bid following any previous bid is "insufficient" 
if it is not "higher" according to Law 31. 

When an insufficient bid is made: 

(a) The insufficient bidder, if he do so before an 
opponent has declared or called attention to the insuffi- 
ciency, may make the bid sufficient by changing the 
number of odd tricks named, in which case the declara- 
tion proceeds as if the bid had been sufficient. 

(b) When either opponent calls attention to an 
insufficient bid before it is changed, the insufficient 
bidder must make his bid sufficient by increasing the 
number^ of odd tricks named; and if the player on the 
left of the insufficient bidder then pass, the partner of 
the insufficient bidder must pass and may not re-enter 
the declaration unless an opponent subsequently bid 
or double. 

(c) If neither opponent call attention to the insuffi- 
ciency and the player on the left of the insufficient 
bidder either bid, double or pass, the previous insuffi- 
ciency is waived. 

(d) Either opponent, after the bid has been made 
sufficient as provided in (b) , may in turn make a 
higher^ bid, in which case the declaration proceeds as 
if no bid had been insufficient. 



^ Seven is the greatest number that may be named. 

- Not exceeding seven. 

3 i. e.. Higher than the bid after it has been made sufBcient. 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 211 

BID OUT OF TURN DEFINED 

33. A bid out of turn/ (not an illegitimate bid, 
Law 41) : 

(a) If, before Dealer declares, a bid be made by 
any other player. 

(b) If, after Dealer declares, any player bid other- 
wise than in his turn. 

BID OUT OF TURN PENALIZED 

34. After a bid out of turn: 

(a) Either opponent of the offender may cancel it. 
The proper player then proceeds with the declaration,^ 
the out-of-turn bid being ignored, but the partner of 
the out-of-turn bidder must thereafter pass whenever 
his turn comes.^ 

(b) When the player on the left of the out-of-turn 
bidder declares before the improper bid is canceled, the 
out-of-turn bid is thereby accepted as if made in turn 
and there is no penalty. 

(c) When the player on the right of the out-of-turn 
bidder is the proper declarer and declares* without 
otherwise canceling the improper bid, such act cancels 
the out-of-turn bid and (a) applies. 

DOUBLE DEFINED 

35. When, during the declaration and in proper turn, 
a player doubles, it doubles the trick value (Law 10) 
of the last previous bid. Doubling does not change 
bidding values (Laws 4 and 31), nor the values of 
honors (Law 15), Slam or Little Slam (Law 16). 

REDOUBLE DEFINED 

36. When, during the declaration, and in proper turn, 
a player redoubles, it doubles the double (Law 35); 
that is, it multiplies the original trick value (Law 10) 

^ When a bid is out of turn and also insufficient (Law 32), either 
opponent may elect to apply either Law 32 (b) or Law 34 (a). 

^ The "proper player" must pass if he is the partner of the player 
in error. 

^ The oflfending player, as he has not received improper information, 
may subsequently declare in turn. 

* When he doubles, it is a double of the last legal bid. 



212 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

by four. A redouble, like a double, affects only trick 
values (Law 35). 

IMPROPER DOUBLES AND REDOUBLES 

37. The penalties for improper doubles or redoubles 
follow : 

(a) A double or redouble before a bid has been 
made is void. 

(b) A double or redouble after the declaration ends: 
Law 41(a) prescribes the penalty. 

(c) A double or redouble made when it is the turn 
of the right hand opponent to declare is subject to the 
same penalty as a bid out of turn (Law 34-a) unless 
the Dartner of the offender has passed the bid involved, 
in which case the double or redouble is void and there 
is no penalty. 

(d) A double or redouble when it is partner's turn 
to declare may be accepted by the opponents, after 
consultation, as if it had been in turn; or they may 
demand a new deal; or call the bid that was doubled 
final and elect whether the double or redouble stand. 
Any of these penalties may be exacted even though 
the partner of the offender call attention to the error; 
but, if the player to the left of the offender declare, 
he thereby accepts the out-of-turn double or redouble. 

(^) A double of a double is a redouble; a redouble 
when there has been no double is a double; a redouble 
of a redouble is void and is penalized by a new deal 
or 100 points in the adverse honor-score. Doubling a 
partner's bid or redoubling a partner's double is pen- 
alized by 50 points in the adverse honor-score. Either 
opponent may exact any of these penalties. 

PASS DEFINED 

38. When, during the declaration and in proper turn, 
a player passes; the turn to declare is thereby passed 
to the next player to the left. 

PASS OUT OP TURN DEFINED 

39. A pass is out of turn : 

(a) If made before Dealer declares; 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 213 

(b) If made (after Dealer declares) by any player 
except in turn. 

PASS OUT OF TURN PENALIZED 

40. After a pass out of turn: 

(a) If the opponent at the left of the offending 
player declares^ before attention is called to the error, 
the pass is accepted as regular. 

(b) If an opponent call attention to the error, the 
pass is void and the player whose turn it was, when 
the error was made, resumes the declaration; but the 
offending player may not thereafter bid, double or 
redouble unless the declaration he passed be over-bid, 
doubled or redoubled. 

ILLEGITIMATE DECLARATIONS 

41. (a) A bid, double or redouble made after the 
declaration is ended is not penalized if made by De- 
clarer or his partner. But should the error be com- 
mitted by an adversary. Declarer may call a lead from 
the offending player the first time it is the turn of said 
partner to lead. 

(b) When a player who has been debarred from 
bidding or doubling, either bids, doubles or redoubles, 
either opponent may decide whether or not such bid, 
double or redouble stand; and, in either case, both the 
offending player and his partner must thereafter pass. 

(c) A pass after the declaration is ended is void. 

DECLARING AND CHANGING 

42. If a player pass, bid, double, or redouble, and 
then attempt to change^ to some other form of declara- 
tion or attempt to change the size of a sufficient bid, 



^ See footnote to Law 29, which provides that a pass is a decla- 
ration. 

2 A player who inadvertently says "No Bid," meaning to say "No 
Trump" (or vice versa) ; or who inadvertently says "Spade," "Heart," 
"Diamond" or "Club," meaning to name another of these, may cor- 
rect his mistake, provided the next player has not declared. "Inad- 
vertently" refers to a slip of the tongue, not a change of mind. 



214 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

such attempted change may be penalized as a bid out 
of turn.i 

REPEATED ERRORS 

43. When any player commits an error for which a 
penalty is provided in Laws 32, 34, 37, 40, 41, or 42 
at a time when an error has previously been committed 
under those laws, for which the penalty has not already 
been fully paid: 

(a) If the previous error was committed by the 
other side, the penalty for it (or as much as remains 
unpaid) is canceled and the side newly in error is 
liable for the penalty provided for the new offense; 

(b) If the previous error was committed by the 
same side, the opponents, after consultation, may elect 
which error to penalize. 

CARDS EXPOSED DURING DECLARATION 

44. If, during the declaration,^ any player lead or 
expose^ a card, such card must be left face upward on 
the table and the partner of the player in error must 
thereafter pass whenever it is his turn to declare. 

If the player in error later becomes Declarer or 
Dummy, the card in question is no longer exposed; 
otherwise it remains an exposed card until played. 

If the player on the left of the player in error later 
becomes Declarer he may, on the first trick, forbid a 
lead of the suit of the exposed card.* 

CONTRACT AND DECLARER 

45. With the completion of the declaration, the side 
which has made the highest bid assumes a contract to 



1 Unless it be an attempt to change the third or fourth consecutive 
pass which closes the declaration (Law 29). 

^ Law 29 specifies when the declaration begins and ends. 

^ Law 51 defines exposed cards. 

* When two or more cards are exposed, all are subject to the pro- 
visions of Law 44, but the Declarer may not forbid the lead of more 
than three suits. 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 215 

win at least the number of odd tricks^ named in said 
bid: the partner of that side who first named the suit 
or No Trump specified in said bid is Declarer. 

For every trick Declarer falls short of his contract, 
the adversaries score 50 points in their honor-score for 
undertricks. All tricks won by adversaries beyond 
their "book" are undertricks. The adversaries' book is 
the number of the bid subtracted from seven. De- 
clarer's book is his first six tricks. In case of a double, 
the undertricks count 100 each; in case of redouble 
they count 200 each. 

When there is a double and Declarer fulfils his 
contract, he counts in his honor-score a bonus of 50 
points ; and a further bonus of 50 points for each trick, 
if any, that he wins beyond the number called for by 
the contract. When there is a redouble, these bonuses 
are 100 points each instead of 50.2 

THE PLAY 

46. After the declaration, the play proceeds accord- 
ing to Law 5. Until the initial lead has been legally 
made, Declarer's partner is not subject to any of the 
limitations^ imposed upon Dummy. 

DUMMY 

47. As soon as the initial lead is legally made, 
Declarer's partner places his cards face upward on 
the table and becomes Dummy.* Declarer plays 
Dummy's cards as well as his own. Dummy takes no 
part in the play and has no rights except as provided 
in Laws 48 and 49. 

DUMMY'S RIGHTS (Unconditional) 

48. Dummy always has the right: 

(a) To call attention to the fact that too many or 
too few cards have been played to a trick, 

^ Law 9 provides that Declarer whose contract fails, scores nothing 
for tricks. 

^ These bonuses are in addition to the increased trick score, see 
Law 10. 

^ Except consultation as to the penalty provided im Law 54 (a). 

* "Dummy" is sometimes used in the obvious sense of dummy's cards. 



2i6 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

(b) To call attention to the fact that the wrong side 
has gathered in a trick, 

(c) To ask Declarer whether he have any of a suit 
he has refused.^ 

(d) To correct an error in the score, 

(e) To participate in the discussion of any disputed 
question of fact after it has arisen between Declarer 
and an adversary, 

(/) To correct an improper claim of either ad- 
versary. 

(g) To assist Declarer as allowed by Law 54(y). 

DUMMY'S RIGHTS (Conditional) 

49. If Dummy have not intentionally looked at a card 
held by any player, he has the following additional 
rights : 

(h) To claim an adverse revoke, 

(i) To call attention to an adverse lead out of turn, 

(/) To call attention to a card exposed by an ad- 
versary, 

(k) To call Declarer's attention to any right he may 
have under the laws, 

(I) To suggest playing out the hand when Declarer 
would concede any of the remaining tricks (Law 59-&). 

DUMMY PENALIZED 

50. (m) Should Dummy call attention to any matter 
involving a right of Declarer or a penalty incurred by 
the adversaries, said matter not being covered by Law 
48 paragraphs (a) to (g) ; or should he, after having 
intentionally looked at a card held by any player, seek 
to exercise any of the rights mentioned in Law 49, 
paragraphs (h) to (Z) ; then such right or penalty is 
canceled and may not be exercised or exacted. 

(n) Should Dummy, by touching a card or other- 
wise, suggest a play by Declarer; either adversary may 



^ "Refuse" is defined in footnote to Law 7. 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 217 

require Declarer to make such play (if legal) or to 
refrain from making it. 

(0) Should Dummy warn Declarer that he is about 
to lead from the wrong hand, either adversary may 
designate the hand from which Declarer shall lead. 

EXPOSED CARDS 

51. The following are "exposed" cards — 

(a) Two or more cards led or played simultaneously 
(all are exposed) ; 

(b) A card dropped face upward on the table, even 
if snatched up so quickly that it cannot be named ;i 

(c) A card dropped elsewhere than on the table if 
the partner see its face;^ 

(d) A card so held by a player that his partner sees 
any portion of its face;^ 

(e) A card mentioned by either adversary as being 
in his own or his partner's hand. 

(/) If an adversary who has legally played to the 
twelfth trick, show his thirteenth card before his part- 
ner plays his twelfth, the partner's two cards are 
exposed ; 

(g) A card designated by any Law as "exposed." 

CALLING EXPOSED CARDS 

52. After a card has been "exposed" as defined in 
Law 51, it must be left face upward on the table and 
Declarer may "call" it (i. e., require its owner to lead 
or play it)^ at any time when it is the owner's turn 
to lead or play, except when the playing of the "called" 
card would cause the holder to renounce. 

Declarer may call an exposed card any number of 
times until it may be legally played, but the owner 
may play it even if not called. 

1 If an adversary throw his cards face upward on the table, they 
are exposed (except as in 59a) andj liable to be called; but if the 
other adversary retain his hand, he cannot be forced to expose it. 

- The fact that an opponent sees it, does not make it an exposed 
card. 

3 Declarer and Dummy are not liable (Law 53). 



2i8 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

PLAY OF DECLARER AND DUMMY 

53. A card from Declarer's hand is not played or 
led until quitted.^ If Declarer name or touch a card 
in Dummy he must play it.^ If he touch two or more 
cards simultaneously, he may play either. 

Declarer and Dummy are not liable to the call of 
exposed cards.^ 

LEADS OUT OF TURN AND CARDS PLAYED 
IN ERROR 

54. (a) After the declaration and before a legal 
initial lead, should the partner of the proper leader 
lead or expose a card. Declarer may either call a lead* 
from the proper leader or treat the card^ as exposed. 
Declarer's partner may call Declarer's attention to the 
offense but, should they consult regarding the penalty, 
it is canceled. Should Declarer's partner spread any 
part of his hand before Declarer selects the penalty, 
Declarer may not call a lead. 

(b) Should an adversary who has played a card 
which, as against Declarer and Dummy, is a winner 
lead another or several such winning cards without 
waiting for his partner to play; Declarer may require 
said adversary's partner to win, if he can, the first or 
any of these tricks, after which the remaining card 
or cards thus led are exposed. 

(c) Should the adversaries lead simultaneously, the 
correct lead stands and the other is an exposed card. 

(d) Should Declarer lead out of turn either from 
his own hand or Dummy, either adversary may direct 
that the error be rectified, but Declarer may not rectify 
it unless so directed. 

(e) After a lead by Declarer or Dummy, should 
fourth hand play before second hand; Declarer may 

^ A card is "quitted" when the player no longer touches it. 

^Unless Declarer say "I arrange," or words to that effect; or un- 
less his touching the card is obviously for the purpose of uncovering 
a partly hidden one or to enable him to get at the card he wishes 
to play. 

2 But see Law 54 (a). 

* If the player called on to lead a su^t hay? none of it the penalty 
is paid. 

•* Or cards. 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 219 

require second hand to play his highest or lowest card 
of the suit led, or to win or lose the trick.^ If second 
hand have none of the suit led, Declarer may call his 
highest of any designated suit. If second hand hold 
none of the suit called, the penalty is paid. 

(/) Should Declarer lead from his own or Dummy's 
hand and then play from the other hand before second 
hand plays, fourth hand may play before second hand 
without penalty. 

(g) Should any player (including Dummy) lead out 
of turn and next hand^ play without claiming the 
penalty, the lead stands as regular. 

(h) If an adversary lead out of turn. Declarer may 
call a lead as soon as it is the turn of either adversary 
to lead or may treat the card so led as exposed. 

(i) If a player (not Dummy) omit playing to a 
trick and then play to a subsequent trick. Declarer or 
either adversary (as the case may be) may demand 
a new deal whenever the error is discovered. If no 
new deal be demanded, the surplus card at the end of 
the hand is considered played to the imperfect trick 
but does not constitute a revoke therein. 

(/) Whenever it is suspected that any of the quitted 
tricks contains more than four cards, any player (in- 
cluding Dummy) may count them face downward. If 
any be found to contain a surplus card and any player 
be short, either opponent may face the trick, select 
the surplus card and restore it to the player who is 
short; but this does not change the ownership of the 
trick. The player who was short is answerable for 
revoke as provided in Law 56 (^). 

RENOUNCE 

55. When a player, having one or more cards of 
the suit led, plays a card of a different suit; his act 
constitutes a renounce.^ 



^Except as provided in (/). 

2 Declarer accepts wrong lead if he play next either from his own 
or Dummy's hand. 

^ See also "refuse," Law 7^ footnote. 



220 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

REVOKE DEFINITIONS 

56. A renounce (Law 55) becomes a revoke and 
subject to penalty (Law 57) : 

(a) When the trick in which it occurs is turned 
and quitted^ by the rightful winners, except as pro- 
vided in Law 58(c) ; 

(b) When the renouncing player or his partner, 
whether in turn or otherwise, leads or plays to the 
following trick; 

(c) When one side having claimed a revoke either 
opponent mixes the cards before the claimant has had 
reasonable opportunity to examine them. 

(d) When a player has incurred a penalty requiring 
him to play the highest or lowest of a suit, or to win 
or lose a trick, or to lead a certain suit, or to refrain 
from playing a certain suit, and fails to act as directed 
when able to do so; he incurs the revoke penalty. 

(e) If at any time a player be found to have less 
than his correct number of cards, and the other three 
have their correct number; the missing card or cards, 
if found (see also Laws 2y-e and 54-/), belong to 
the player^ who is short and, unless he be Dummy, 
he is answerable for any revoke or revokes as if the 
missing card or cards had been in his hand continu- 
ously. 

REVOKE PENALTY 

57. The penalty for each revoke is: 

(a) When Declarer revokes, he cannot score for 
tricks and his adversaries, in addition to any bonus 
for undertricks,^ add 50 points to their honor-score 
for each revoke. 

(b) When either adversary revokes, Declarer for 
the first revoke may either score 50 points in his 

^ A trick is "quitted" when it is turned and the player no longer 
touches it. 

^ The fact that such player made no claim of irregularity at the 
time of the deal is conclusive, in the absence of evidence to the con- 
trary, that the missing cards were dealt to him. 

3 The fact that Declarer revokes does not permit adversaries to 
score for undertricks, provided Declarer has won (even with the help 
of the revoke) at least the number of tricks called for by his contract. 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 221 

honor-score or take two tricks^ from his adversaries 
and add them to his own.^ Such tricks may assist 
Declarer to make good his contract, but shall not en- 
title him to any further bonus^ in the honor-score by 
reason of the bid having been doubled or redoubled; 
nor to a Slam or Little Slam not otherwise obtained. 
For each revoke after the first. Declarer adds 50 
points to his honor-score. 

(c) The value of honors as held is the only score 
that can be made by a revoking side unless both sides 
revoke; if one side revoke more than once, the other 
scores 50 for each extra revoke. 

REVOKE AVOIDED 

58. A renounce (Law 55) may be corrected, and the 
revoke (Law 57) avoided, under the following cir- 
cumstances : 

(a) If made by Dummy, the renounce may be cor- 
rected before the trick is turned and quitted. After 
the trick has been turned and quitted, whether by 
the rightful winners or otherwise, the renounce may 
not be corrected. In neither case is there any penalty. 

(b) A renouncing player, other than Dummy, may 
not correct his error (except as in c) after the trick 
is turned and quitted nor after he or his partner has 
led or played to the following trick. If the correction 
be made in time, there is no revoke penalty; but the 
player in error (except as in e) may be required to 
play his highest or lowest card of the suit led. Any 
player, who played after the renounce, may withdraw 
his card and substitute another. 

(c) If, before the trick is turned and quitted, the 
partner of the renouncing player ask him whether he 
have any* of the suit refused, subsequent turning and 
quitting does not establish a revoke until the renounc- 

* The value of the two tricks — undoubled, doubled or redoubled as 
the case may be — is counted in the trick score. 

2 Dummy may advise Declarer which penalty to exact. 
^ They may enable him to win a game and, if that game end the 
rubber, give him the 250 points bonus. 

* Or none. 



222 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

ing player has answered in the negative, or until he or 
his partner has led or played to the following trick. 

(d) If the renouncing player be an adversary and 
the renounce be corrected in time, declarer instead of 
calling the highest or lowest may treat the card played 
in error as exposed. 

(e) The highest or lowest may not be called from 
Declarer unless the adversary to his left have played 
to the trick after the renounce. 

(/) Should Dummy leave the table after request- 
ing protection from revokes,^ Declarer cannot be pe- 
nalized, following a renounce, unless an adversary in 
due time call the renounce to his attention. 

(g) The revoke penalty cannot be claimed after 
the next ensuing cut (Law 25) ; nor, if the revoke 
occur during the last hand of a rubber, after the score 
has been agreed upon; nor if there have been a draw 
for any purpose in connection with the next rubber 
(e. g.j as in Law 22). 

CLAIMING AND CONCEDING TRICKS 

59. (a) If Declarer say "1 have the rest," or any 
words indicating the remaining tricks or any number 
thereof are his; either adversary may require him to 
place his cards face upward on the table and play out 
the hand. Declarer cannot then take any finesse, not 
previously proven a winner,^ unless he announced it 
when making his claim; nor may he call any cards 
either adversary has exposed. 

(b) If Declarer concede one or more tricks, and 
either adversary accept the concession before Dummy 
lawfully demands that the hand be played out (Law 
49-Z), such trick or tricks belong to adversaries even 
though, had the hand been played out, Declarer could 
not have lost them. 



1 Sometimes called "courtesies of the table." 

^ "Proven a winner" means that the adversary who plays last to 
the trick in which the finesse is to be taken, has previously refused 
that suit; the fact that a finesse in the same suit has previously won 
is not enough. 



THE LAWS OF AUCTION 223 

(c) If an adversary concede a trick or tricks to 
Declarer, and such concession be accepted before the 
other adversary objects, it is binding on both adver- 
saries. 

PENALTIES AND CONSULTATION 

60. Laws which give "either partner," "either oppo- 
nent," etc., the right to exact a penalty do not permit 
consultation. 

(a) If either partner suggest or name a penalty he 
is deemed to have selected it. 

(b) If either direct the other to select a penalty, the 
latter must do so; and, if an attempt be made to refer 
the privilege back, the penalty is canceled. 

(c) If either says (in effect), "Which of us is to 
select the penalty?" the penalty is canceled. 

Cd) A proper penalty once selected may not be 
changed. 

(e) If a wrong penalty be selected^ the selection 
must be corrected upon request of either opponent. 

(/) If a wrong penalty be selected and paid without 
challenge, the selection may not be changed. 

(g) A reasonable time must be allowed for the 
selection of a penalty, and the selection must be made 
within a reasonable time. 

(h) If, instead of exacting a penalty at the proper 
time, either opponent of the side in error play or de- 
clare, no penalty may be exacted. 

INFORMATION 

61. (a) During the declaration, information must 
be given concerning its details up to that time, but, 
after it is ended, should either adversary or Dummy 
inform his partner regarding any detail of the decla- 
ration except the contract. Declarer or either adver- 
sary (as the case may be) may call a lead the next 



^ If the "penalty" selected be something not described in the Laws, 
no penalty may be exacted. 



224 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

time it is the turn of the offending side to lead. At 
any time during the play, any player inquiring must 
be informed what the contract is. 

(b) Any player except Dummy may, before a trick 
is turned and quitted, demand that the cards so far 
played be placed before their respective players; but 
should either adversary, in the absence of such demand, 
in any way call attention to his own card or to the 
trick, Declarer may require the partner of the offender 
to play his highest or lowest card of the suit led, or 
to win or lose the trick. 

(c) Either adversary, but not Dummy (Law 50-0), 
may call his partner's attention to the fact that he is 
about to play or lead out of turn; but if, during the 
play, an adversary makes any unauthorized reference 
to any incident thereof, or to the location of any 
card, Declarer may call the next lead when it becomes 
an adversary's turn.^ 

(d) If before or during the declaration a player 
give any unauthorized information concerning his hand, 
his partner may be barred from subsequent partici- 
pation in the declaration, 

(e) The penalty for looking at quitted tricks (ex- 
cept where the Laws permit examination) is 25 points 
in the adverse honor-score for each offense. 

NEW CARDS 

62. One new pack must be produced to replace an 
incorrect one (Law 2y-e) or an imperfect one (Law 
2S-g). Otherwise, when new cards are demanded, two 
packs must be furnished and the opponents of the 
player demanding them have the choice, unless the 
demand be made at the beginning of a rubber, in 
which case Dealer has the choice. 

Except under Laws 2y(e) and 28 (^r), new cards 
may not be introduced during a deal. (See Law 26-0.) 



^ Any such reference by Dummy, may be similarly penalized by 
either adversary. 



THE ETIQUETTE OF AUCTION 

In the game of Auction slight intimations may con- 
vey improper information. To offend against etiquette 
is more serious than to offend against a law; for in 
the latter case the offender is subject to prescribed 
penalties; in the former his opponents are without 
redress. 

1. Declarations should be made in a simple manner, 
thus : "one Heart," "one No Trump," "pass," "double" ; 
they should be made without emphasis. 

2. Except by his legitimate declaration, a player 
should not indicate by word, manner or gesture the 
nature of his hand, nor his approval or disapproval 
of a play, bid, or double. 

3. If a player demand that the cards be placed, he 
should do so for his own information and not to call 
his partner's attention to any card or play. 

4. An adversary should not lead until the preceding 
trick has been turned and quitted; nor, after having 
led a winning card, should he draw another from his 
hand before his partner has played to the current 
trick. 

5. A card should not be played in such manner as 
to draw attention to it, nor should a player detach one 
card from his hand and subsequently play another. 

6. A player should not purposely incur a penalty 
nor should he make a second revoke to conceal a first. 

7. Conversation which may annoy players at the 
table or at other tables in the room should be avoided. 

8. Dummy should not leave his seat to watch his 
partner play nor call attention to the score. 

9. If Declarer say, "I have the rest," or any words 
indicating that the remaining tricks, or any number 
thereof, are his, and an adversary exposes his cards, 

225 



226 THE LAWS OF AUCTION 

Declarer should not allow any information so obtained 
to influence his play. 

10. A player having been cut out of one table 
should not seek admission in another unless willing 
to cut for the privilege of entry. 



BBENTANO'S 



